Right Where You Want Me
by Tori Moxley
Summary: Stormie's life is turned upside down when The Authority airs her family's dirty laundry on Raw and she eventually turns her back on them to join a new family; The Wyatt Family. She thought it was the right thing to do at the time, but when The Shield makes her an offer to leave the Wyatt's and join them, will she accept? Seth Rollins/OC/Bo Dallas
1. Chapter 1

**After stressing out about all the loose ends in the original **_Right Where You Want Me_** I decided to try and re-write the story, and if you readers respond well, I'm going to continue re-writing it and delete the original and the** _Baby Girl_ **one-shots**** . There will be differences, but hopefully you all enjoy it. I also decided that author notes would only be used for special circumstances, this is one of them.**

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"Kip up." Daniel Bryan instructed, standing back as he watched her lay flat on her back in the middle of one of the many wrestling rings the WWE Performance Center had to offer. Stormie placed her hands behind her head, arched her back and kicked her legs up, landing cat-like on her feet, only to find herself back on the canvas when Daniel body slammed her.

"Again." He said, looking at her expectantly.

Stormie sighed heavily and let her head drop to the canvas with a dull thud. "Why can't I just lay down and do it?" She whined as she brushed away the damp strands of her dark hair that clung to her neck and forehead.

"Getting up from the body slam builds your endurance." Daniel explained, smiling slightly. "One more and then you can take a five minute break." He promised. With a pained moan passing through her lips, Stormie kipped up once again.

As soon as she got to her feet, she laid back down on the mat on her belly. Daniel kneeled down by her head and gently patted her back, being careful to avoid the bruises in various stages of healing, a souvenir she received when she began her wrestling training two months ago. Properly, at least. Being a second generation Diva meant that Stormie started her wrestling training earlier than she probably should have at the age of 16 under her oldest brother's supervision and against her father's wishes, but after seeing what she knew and how far she'd come with only a few training sessions a year, he agreed to let her have a try-out match and two months later, here she was.

Stormie gratefully accepted her water bottle from Daniel and attached her lips to the spout, sucking in until she drained half the bottle in about five seconds. She closed the spout and sighed as she rested her head against the canvas.

"Working hard?" Stormie opened her eyes and turned her head slightly to the side, smiling when she saw one of the friends she'd made upon arriving in developmental.

"Always." Stormie grinned, pushing herself into a sitting position. "When did you get here?" Chelsey Salvatore pulled herself onto the apron using the middle rope and climbed in, smiling thankfully at Daniel when he held the ropes open for her.

"Like ten minutes ago." She answered, unzipping the black Shield sweater that was about two sizes too big for her, revealing the tight tank top she wore underneath.

"I would have been here sooner if I wasn't stopped by Bayley and had the life hugged out of me." She laughed, draping the sweater over the ropes before she sat down next to Stormie with her legs crossed. Stormie laughed too, she received the same greeting from Bayley when she arrived at the Performance Center at eight o'clock this morning to train.

"Five minutes is up, Stormie." Daniel said, "I'll let you pick what we work on next." Stormie didn't bother resisting the urge to pout. "We've been training for three hours, can't we quit?"

"You know what you have to do if you want to choose when we quit." Daniel said with a small smile.

"I hope it's not what I think it is." Chelsey grinned teasingly.

"It's not." Stormie giggled, knowing what Chelsey thought it was, but it could not be farther from the truth. Chelsey raised her eyebrows at Daniel. "What does she have to do?" She asked curiously.

"She needs to make me tap out to one of her submission holds." Daniel said, shrugging his shoulders. If only it were that easy. Stormie was extremely grateful to have one of the, if not the best Superstar on the main roster taking the time to help her train. Her wrestling style was similar to his. Even when she first began training, it was obvious that she favored submission holds and other things that kept an opponent down to her size, rather than having to lift them over her head.

Unfortunately, all the submission holds she knew were taught to her by Daniel, and he knew a counter to every one of them.

She was just wondering if maybe she could catch him off guard with a submission hold when she heard, "Whoa, you're only smoke and mirrors", a familiar yet muffled ring tone and entrance theme from one of the pockets in her gym bag.

"Saved by the iPhone." Stormie murmured, stepped out of the ring to search through her gym bag for about ten seconds before she finally found the sparkly case that protected her iPhone. She slid her thumb across the screen and held the device near her ear.

"Hey Codes, how you been?" Stormie greeted, pulling at a loose piece of thread on her pink Under Armour tank top. She hadn't spoken to her older brother Cody in a few months, she had been busy with moving from her parents home in Marietta, Georgia to her new and somewhat tiny apartment in Tampa, Florida, and not to mention all the training she was doing, and the fact that Cody had been acting like a major asshat since he began hanging out with Damien Sandow. It reminded her of the time Cody was apart of Legacy with Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase.

Randy was a jerk, but he always had been. At least Ted didn't insult her intelligence and call her an ignoramus.

"I've been good." Cody said almost casually. Things were better between the two, especially since Cody chucked Damien's Money in the Bank briefcase in the Gulf of Mexico, but it still wasn't back to the way things used to be. "I've been doing some thinking and talking to Dad about you..." That little fact made Stormie's hand drop from her side.

"Oh?" She said, her voice raising an octave higher, she was nervous to hear the rest of his sentence. "About what?"

"Well, I know I've been a jerk lately." Cody began and Stormie barely resisted the urge to snort incredulously. That might've been the understatement of the year. He continued, "Brandi suggested that I make it up to my friends and family, and I talked to Dad and he suggested I take you on the road with me so you can gain some on road experience. You up for it?"

Daniel and Chelsey looked up, startled when Stormie's high pitched scream echoed loudly through the Performance Center. "Are you freaking serious?!" She asked, a strangled half-laugh escaping her lips. "Of course I'm up for it!"

Cody chuckled. "Okay, great." He hung up shortly after that but promised to call back in an hour or two to iron out the details. Stormie hung up her phone and turned to her friend and trainer. "I'm going to be traveling with Cody to gain some on road experience!"

Stormie was not focused on the task at hand, and Daniel knew that. He also knew it would be dangerous to try any more wrestling moves when he didn't have Stormie's full attention, so he decided to end the training session right here and now. "I'll train with you on the road." He smiled before he left.

Chelsey was just as excited for Stormie, because she was traveling with her own boyfriend and just last week had be called up to the main roster, but had yet to debut. "I'm so excited for you!" Chelsey exclaimed as they both left the ring and headed towards the gym. They headed to two available treadmills and played around with the speed settings before starting at a brisk jog.

"There is nothing like being on the road, you'll be able to gain so much more experience as opposed to just being in developmental. And you'll get to see me more often!"

Stormie giggled. "That's definitely a plus." Growing up as the only daughter in a family of professional wrestlers wasn't exactly easy. Stormie never had a lot of friends because people who did befriend her eventually just wanted to get to know her father and older brothers, and when Cody found this out, he yelled at a bunch of kids for it.

Eventually everyone was too scared to be friends with Stormie. Thankfully there were some nice people in developmental including Paige, Emma, Cody's fiancé Brandi and, of course, Chelsey.

While Chelsey was busy on the elliptical, Stormie sat down on the leg press machine and worked out while texting on her cell phone, stopping when she reached her boyfriends name in the list of contacts. This was exciting news for Stormie, and she knew that she couldn't tell him through a text, so instead, she texted him asking him to meet her at the tiny coffee shop and bakery down the block from her apartment in an hour, being sure to mention that she had something important to tell him.

Stormie stepped in front of the elliptical that Chelsey was on and waited patiently until Chelsey removed one of the earbuds that was in her ear. "I'm going to head out now." She told her, grinning. "I have a lot to do before I'm on the road."

"Sure, I'll text you later." After exchanging goodbyes, Stormie grabbed her gym bag and toweled off all the sweat on her skin before she left the Performance Center and tossed her gym bag in the back seat of her canary yellow Camaro before she hopped into the driver's seat and buckled her seat belt.

She grabbed her iPhone from the cup holder when it made a ding sound and unlocked the screen.

**'It must be important if you can't tell me through a text or with a phone call. I'll meet you there in an hour, love you babe.'**

She put the phone back in the cup holder without responding and turned the keys in the ignition before backing out of the parking space. An hour later Stormie walked into the tiny coffee shop and bakery with her hair still damp and curly from her shower and dressed in a pair of torn light blue skinny jeans and a yellow crop top with Pikachu's eyes, nose, mouth and rosy red cheeks on the front, her yellow flip flops making smacking sounds with every step she took, she glanced around the small dining room, smiling brightly when she saw her boyfriend sitting in a booth by the window.

"Hey babe!" Bo Dallas greeted warmly when he saw her walking over to him, he slid out of the booth and greeted Stormie with a hug and a kiss, waiting for her to slid into the booth opposite to him before he returned to his seat.

"I already ordered for you." Bo said when he spotted the waitress coming over to their table

"Earl Grey tea and a slice of cherry cheesecake." The waitress said, placing the China teacup and saucer with a fork down in front of Stormie who thanked her with a smile. "Coffee and a banana chocolate chunk muffin." She set the other cup and muffin down in front of Bo and retreated back behind the counter.

Bo took a sip of his coffee and began peeling the wax paper baking cup off of his muffin, "So what did you want to tell me that was so important it had to be in person?"

Stormie smiled to herself as she dropped four sugar cubes into her teacup and added a bit of milk before stirring it. "I got a call from Cody today. He offered for me to go with him on the road!" Stormie clapped her hands like an excited toddler, but to her surprise, Bo didn't seem to share her enthusiasm.

"Don't you think it's too soon?" Bo asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm not being moved _up_ to the main roster." Stormie said frowning, "I'm just traveling with them. This is a big opportunity, I thought you'd be happy for me..."

"I _am_ happy for you, babe." Bo said, taking her hands in his, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand. "But I'm your boyfriend, I'm allowed to be concerned."

Stormie grinned and cupped the back of his head, pulling him in for a kiss. "You know I appreciate that you're concerned, but you have no reason to be, I'll be fine." Bo smiled, Stormie was so excited that she didn't notice the reluctance in his eyes.

Cody called Stormie during her date with Bo and they spent about ten minutes ironing out the details of Stormie's visit. Cody was emailing her a plane ticket for Des Moines, Iowa tomorrow morning and he would pick her up at the airport. Bo drove her back to her apartment and for a minute, they just sat in the parking lot.

Stormie unbuckled her seat belt and leaned over the center console to kiss his cheek. "Are you going to drop me off at the airport tomorrow?" She asked, running her fingers gently through his long hair.

Bo was quiet for a minute before he responded. "Yeah, I guess."

Stormie kissed him again and smiled her thanks before she headed up seven flights of stairs to her apartment. In the short span of half an hour, she threw all the clothes, makeup and toiletries she owned in the Winnie the Pooh luggage set that her parents bought for her as a housewarming gift. She put her last pair of jeans into the suitcase and sat down on the top, pulling the zipper closed.

Stormie set all her luggage by her front door and sat down on her favorite arm chair in the living room, glancing at the time on the cable box, groaning when she realized it was on 2:31 in the afternoon.

This was going to be a long day of waiting.


	2. Chapter 2

At eight o'clock the next morning, the sound of twinkling bells echoed in Stormie's decently sized bedroom, lasting barely a second before her hand reached out from under the blanket and her finger slid across the screen, effectively silencing it. Despite only sleeping two hours last night, Stormie felt completely energized as she pushed her blankets down to her ankles and swung her feet to the side of the bed, the plush carpet warm beneath her toes before she stepped onto the cold hardwood floor and made her way to the bathroom. She turned on the water in the shower and brushed her teeth as she waited for it to heat up before stripping out of her Smurf pajamas and jumping in the shower.

Her flight to Des Moines left at ten o'clock in the morning, and she briefly cursed herself for not showering the night before as she lathered her long dark brown hair with shampoo, she still had so much to do, and she had less than two hours.

During the long waiting period last night, she texted Chelsey and told her the details of her flight, funnily enough Chelsey had the same flight and no way of getting to the airport. She insisted on taking a taxi from her apartment, Stormie insisted that she and Bo would pick her up on the way.

After showering and changing into a pair of light blue jean shorts and a peach hooded sweatshirt with Spiderman, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and Ironman on the front, Stormie put her laptop and cell phone into her carry on and paced around her tiny apartment anxiously awaiting the text from Bo she received five minutes later saying that he was waiting in the parking lot.

Stormie slid on a pair of peach colored suede fringe gladiator sandals and put her suitcase and carry on in the hallway, locking the door and double-checking it before she dragged her luggage down the seven flights of stairs. Bo was waiting by the door in the lobby and took Stormie's luggage when he saw her. Stormie hopped into the passenger seat and Bo began shoving her suitcase in the backseat.

"Sweetie, you need to put the luggage in the trunk." Stormie said, pulling her iPhone out of her carry on.

He stopped shoving the suitcase into the small space and rose an eyebrow. "Why?" He asked.

"The backseat is tiny and Chelsey won't have any room to sit." She said, going through her list of contact until she found Chelsey's name.

"What?"

"Chelsey has the same flight as me and I told her we would pick her up on the way to the airport." Stormie answered, typing a quick message to Chelsey, telling her that she and Bo were on their way to get her.

When she was met with silence, she turned around in her seat and looked at Bo, he was frowning. Stormie frowned as well. "What's wrong?"

He bit his lip and shook his head, pulling the Winnie the Pooh suitcase out of the backseat. "Nothing." He said in reply, shoving the suitcase in the back of the trunk and slamming the trunk closed. He got into the drivers seat and turned the key in the ignition, before pulling out of the parking lot. They rode in silence until Bo pulled into the parking lot of Chelsey's apartment and saw her standing by the lobby doors with her suitcases, he popped the trunk but didn't bother to get out of the car and help her put her luggage inside.

Chelsey climbed into the backseat behind Stormie and smiled at them as she buckled her seat belt. "Thanks for picking me up, I really appreciate it." Bo bit his lip and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal harder than he needed to, speeding off towards the airport. He helped get Stormie's suitcase out of the trunk and sped off again, she frowned as she watched his car drive away.

"He didn't even say goodbye..." She muttered. Chelsey frowned sadly and linked their arms as they walked into the airport together, dragging their suitcases behind them. Stormie had the bar code she receive via email scanned and her luggage checked before she got on the plane.

Unfortunately she and Chelsey weren't seated near each other, but thankfully it was only about four hours until they reached Des Moines and she had plenty of things to keep her occupied, including a childish pink Tamagotchi that hung on her rainbow lanyard with dozens of other key chains and only two keys.

It was almost three o'clock when the plane landed in Des Moines, Iowa. Stormie and Chelsey quickly met up in the baggage claim and sat in the terminal as Stormie dug through her carry-on to find her cell phone and take it out of airplane mode.

To her disappointment, she received no new texts from Bo. Instead, she created a new text message telling him that she landed safely in Des Moines before she pressed send and created a similar text to Cody only adding on by asking where he was.

She received a reply about five minutes later.

**'I'm busy, can you call a taxi?'**

Stormie grumbled to herself and rolled her eyes, angrily texting him back. Chelsey frowned at her aggression, something she never saw unless Stormie was in the ring, and even then it was more playful. "What's up?"

"He invited me to join him on the road and he can't even pick me up from the airport?" She tossed her phone back in her carry on and rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes in frustration. Chelsey was about to reply when her phone dinged, signaling a new text message. She read it and a smile grew on her face.

"You won't have to take a taxi to the arena, cookie." She said, stowing her phone away in her own carry on bag as she stood up and held out her hand. Stormie eyed it for a few seconds before she took it and allowed Chelsey to pull her up. "We're going to give you a ride."

"Who is 'we'?" Stormie asked as she and Chelsey walked out the airport and a black Chevy Tahoe pulled up to the curb beside them. Chelsey didn't bother to answer, instead she grinned as the driver hopped out of the Tahoe and walked around the back of the vehicle, wrapping his arms around Chelsey in a hug when he reached her.

"You're a good driver, right?" Stormie asked, only half-teasing and Dean Ambrose scoffed playfully.

"I didn't pay those six speeding tickets for the hell of it." Dean told the girls to wait in the car while he loaded their luggage.

Stormie eyed him a little nervously from the back seat, Chelsey noticed and smiled. "The only time you need to worry about his driving is when I'm not in the car." She told her reassuringly as Dean closed the tailgate and began walking back to the driver seat. "You'll be perfectly safe with me here."

Somehow she doubted it, but she was pleasantly surprised when Dean pulled out of the airport parking lot and obeyed the rules of the road, driving the speed-limit, using his turn signals, slowing down at yellow lights and eventually they made it to the Wells Fargo Arena in one piece.

The backstage area was bursting with life. There were all sorts of people around, from techs and trainers to Superstars and Divas. "Do you know where you have to be?" Dean asked as he and Chelsey walked ahead of Stormie, their hands intertwined. Stormie pulled out her cell phone and happily noted a new text from Cody.

"He wants me to meet him by the men's locker room." Stormie informed them, and Dean and Chelsey graciously escorted her to the men's locker room before they had to go to The Shield's private locker room.

"Don't go peeking inside." Dean said in a teasing voice as he and Chelsey walked off. "Wouldn't want to scar your virgin eyes." Stormie flipped him off, even though he couldn't see it with his back to her and sat down cross legged in front of the locker room door with her back against the wall, browsing through her Twitter timeline on her phone until Cody emerged from the locker room ten minutes later dressed in his ring gear.

Despite being a jerk for the past couple of months, Stormie decided to forgive him right away when she saw his mustache-less face. He smiled and immediately pulled her into a hug, he seemed so happy to see her and it made Stormie happy as well to know that she had one of her big brothers back in her life.

Stormie linked her arm with Cody's and stayed close to his side as they walked down one of the hallways in the Wells Fargo Arena, stopping every once in a while to chat with other Superstars and Divas. Eventually Cody showed her the catering area and chuckled in amusement when Stormie went off and began filling a paper plate with caesar salad and grilled chicken, picking up some plastic cutlery and a small plastic cup filled with water and a slice of lemon.

There were several small tables, a few potted plants and a large flat screen television mounted to the wall. When Stormie sat down at one of the tables, Cody joined her, picking the croutons out of her salad.

"Are you scheduled for a match tonight?" Stormie asked, nibbling a piece of chicken.

"No, but you should always have impromptu ring gear with you." Cody answered. Stormie supposed this was why he had changed into his ring gear earlier. She had no need to worry about this because she was only a rookie and she wasn't allowed to be on camera, like ever.

Cody swallowed the last crouton and stood up abruptly. "I need to go back to the locker room to get my jacket. You stay here, I'll be right back." Stormie nodded in understanding, stuffing a forkful of lettuce in her mouth. The large television on the wall was showing what was happening live on Raw, Stormie rose an eyebrow when she saw Cody appear on the screen five minutes later carrying his jacket over his arm before he was stopped by Randy Orton and Triple H.

The entire conversation was tense, but it only got even tenser when Cody said the taboo words "best for business". The conversation changed from what was "best for business" to Cody's wedding. Stormie's heart fell into her stomach when Triple H put Cody in a match tonight against Randy Orton as a wedding present with a stipulation that followed it: If Cody didn't win, he would be fired.

She watched Fandango and Summer Rae dance their way down to the ring without really seeing it. Her mind was working a mile a minute, trying to keep up with all the emotions she was feeling and stop herself from doing the things she wanted to do. Scream, cry, she even had to sit on her hands to keep herself from wringing them, or biting her fingernails, or even pounding them into the table like a two year old throwing a temper tantrum.

The only thing that kept her in her seat was remembering that Cody said he would be right back. When he reentered catering, Stormie upset the table in her haste to get over to him. He smiled in amusement, despite the worry he was feeling and caught Stormie when she launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Don't look so sad." He murmured into her hair, "I'm still here, you just have to trust me."

He was right, he hadn't even had his match yet and Stormie was acting like he was already fired and on the next flight back home. This wasn't helping him and she knew it. If anything, she was making things ten times worse for him by the way she was reacting.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled back from the embrace, giving him when she hoped was a convincing smile. "I'm sorry." She apologized, "I do trust you."

For the rest of the night things seemed like they hadn't changed at all between Cody and Stormie in the last few months. She asked him questions, and he answered them. They got caught up in their personal lives, they talked about comic books, Stormie's ideas for her first tattoo, Cody's desire to try the sushi restaurant located about five minutes from the arena.

Anything but the present.

Eventually Cody had to buckle down and start warming up and stretching his muscles for the fight of his life. Stormie walked with him to the Gorilla position but stopped outside the curtain that separated the WWE Universe from the backstage area.

Stormie gave him a tight hug and kissed his cheek, trying to keep the reassuring smile on her face until Cody's music began to play and he made his way to the ring. As soon as he was out of her line of vision, Stormie clasped her hands together and said a silent prayer before forcing her way in front of a small group of Superstars and Divas that decided to watch the match on one of the many television screens backstage.

As soon as the bell rang, Orton had Cody backed into a corner, and it seemed like every time Cody gained the upper-hand, Orton would turn the tables. Stormie was something of a wreck as she watched the match progress. She cheered, she winced, she almost cried a few times when it seemed like Cody wouldn't kick out when the referee began counting to three.

Stormie squealed loudly when Cody reversed the RKO and planted Orton with his finishing move, Cross Rhodes, but somehow only managed to get a two count.

"Stay on him Cody!" She yelled at the television. "Stay on him! Don't get distracted!" She watched with wide eyes as Cody attempted another Disaster Kick but Orton ducked out of the way and Cody tweaked his knee.

"Kick out." Stormie whispered quietly, after seeing Orton connect with his second RKO and cover Cody. The other Superstars and Divas were watching Stormie now, listening to her continue saying "kick out" like a mantra, practically screaming it at the television set when Cody didn't kick out and the referee announce Orton the winner via pinfall.

Orton stood at the top of the stage with his WWE Championship held high and Triple H stood next to him. Orton continued going backstage and Triple H stayed where he was, looking down at Cody in the ring, who sat on the mat looking on in disbelief when Triple H told him, "You're fired."

He didn't cry, he was probably too numb to even feel anything right now. But Stormie felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest and stomped on. She did nothing to prevent her eyes from filling with tears but refused to let them fall from her eyes.

She could hear the other Superstars and Divas muttering, felt their hands patting her on the back and people telling her it was going to be okay. But what did they know? Cody being fired wasn't effecting them personally. Their brother wasn't out of a job.

Stormie was vaguely aware of a small presence against her back and a familiar, feminine voice said, "I'll take care of her. Come on, cookie." She let herself be steered away and found herself sitting on the floor of the Divas locker room with Chelsey hugging her from behind, telling Stormie that no matter what happened, she would always have the support of herself and even Dean.

It was at that moment that Stormie's own situation hit her hard.

She had been so preoccupied with worrying about what was going to happen to Cody that she didn't even think of how him being fired would effect her. The only reason Stormie was traveling with the main roster to gain on road experience is because of Cody. Sure, she had others to help her with her training, like Daniel Bryan, but what would happen to her now that Cody wouldn't be here?

Would they send her back to developmental? Her heart physically hurt at the second thought that entered her mind. Would they fire her as well? With so many negative thoughts swirling around inside her head, Stormie effectively worked herself into a panic attack, she moved from Chelsey's arms and crawled on her hands and knees to the bathroom where she emptied the contents of her stomach and Chelsey held her hair back.

She helped Stormie back to the bench and frowned at the sound of her wheezing, trying to get air into her lungs, Chelsey dug through her carry on before she found Stormie's inhaler and forced her to take two puffs.

"Stormie, listen to me." She paused for a second. "Are you listening to me?" Stormie inhaled a shaky breath and nodded. Chelsey pulled her into a hug, petting her hair softly and tucking some strands behind her ear.

"You're okay." She told her trying to sound reassuring. "Cody's going to be okay. You need to calm down. Slow, deep breaths." She reminded her when Stormie started gasping for air again. "Everything is going to work out."

If only Stormie could believe her.

Chelsey wasn't making her main roster debut tonight, so she was pretty much free for the entire night until Dean and the rest of the Shield were ready to leave. She offered to get Stormie some water and something to eat from catering, Stormie didn't have a chance to tell her that she wasn't hungry before she left, but upchucking left a gross taste in her mouth, so she welcomed the water.

Five minutes after Chelsey left, there was a series of loud bangs on the door, Stormie stood up from the bench and crossed the room in 14 short strides, wiping at her sore and glazed over eyes with the heel of her palm. Cody was standing just behind the door dressed in his street clothes with his suitcase behind him.

Stormie tried to hold herself together, but she failed miserably and launched herself into Cody's arms; he didn't seem to mind that her tears were staining his nice suit.

"I don't have much time." He started off, pulling away from the embrace, he took hold of her chin between his thumb and index finger to make sure she was paying attention. "I won't be around to help you. I need you to listen to me, Stormie. Don't trust The Authority." He said firmly. "Hold your tongue, mind your own business. Stick with your friends, they'll help you out as best as they can."

He pulled her into another tight hug and murmured into her hair. "You'll be an amazing Diva, baby girl." He kissed her forehead. "I just know it."

"Is that Cody's fiancé?" JBL asked. Michael Cole shook his head. "No, that's his sister."


	3. Chapter 3

The subtle fragrance of musky cologne and fruity, flowery perfume invades Stormie's nostrils when she woke up the next morning, and, at first, she didn't know where she was. But the memories of last night hit her hard and she had hoped this was all a bad dream, but when she saw that Chelsey was in the bed next to her, she knew it wasn't. She wouldn't be rooming with The Shield unless Cody wasn't available to room with, even if she and Chelsey were friends.

Nobody else was awake besides her, as far as she could tell. She vaguely remembered Chelsey bringing her back to the hotel last night and rather than renting her own room, Chelsey insisted it was okay if Stormie shared a room with her and the rest of the Shield. She changed into her pajamas and fell asleep before the boys even made it back.

She was grateful that Chelsey shared a bed with her and not Seth or Dean as she looked over at the other bed and found Seth trying to spoon Dean in his sleep. Stormie was also a cuddler, and how awkward would it have been sleeping in the same bed with one of them? Especially Seth.

Her suitcase was at the end of the bed, one of the boys must have brought it up because Stormie and Chelsey didn't. She slid out of bed and dragged her suitcase into the bathroom with her so she could change into a pair of faded blue skinny jeans and an orange crop top with Charmander's eyes, nose and mouth on the front.

She brushed her teeth and then her hair and pulled it all into a messy bun on the top of her head, leaving her face void of any makeup besides a little smudge of Baby Lips chapstick to give her lips a nice punch of color. Chelsey was sitting up in bed when Stormie left the bathroom. She smiled softly and patted the bed next to her, Stormie put her pajamas in her suitcase and sat on the bed next to Chelsey.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Stormie put her head against hers and plucked the faded face of Cyclops away from her thigh. Those pajama pants once belonged to Cody, he gave them to her when he outgrew them because he knew how much she loved them.

"I'm okay, I guess." She said quietly. "Just have to get used to the idea of him not being around..." She swallowed the lump in her throat and bit her lip. "I'm scared for him, but I'm also scared for me, I don't know what's going to happen..."

"Triple H would be stupid to send you back to developmental or fire you." Dean spoke up, his voice even raspier in the morning. He punched Seth hard in the arm to get free himself and quickly joined Chelsey and Stormie in their bed. "I've seen you wrestle, Sunshine, you ain't bad."

"You're more than not bad." Chelsey added, smiling. "You're good, especially considering you haven't been training for very long." Dean ruffled her hair playfully, causing a few strands to fall out of her already messy bun before he went to claim the bathroom.

Chelsey patted Stormie's arm before she dug some of her clothes out of her suitcase and went to join Dean in the shower, leaving Stormie alone with two-thirds of the Shield just as both Seth and Roman were waking up. Immediately Stormie felt uneasy at being around the other two-thirds of the Shield. She'd never spoken to them before, the only reason she knew Dean was because Chelsey was his girlfriend.

Seth swore and cursed Dean as he sat up in bed, rubbing at his bicep, but when he noticed that Stormie was awake and staring at him nervously, he smiled and that had Stormie's uneasiness lightening. Roman gingerly got off of the pull-out and made a b-line for the hotel's complimentary coffee maker, ignoring the world around him until the rich aroma of coffee filled the hotel room and he chugged down half a mug despite it being scalding hot, only to refill it to the brim and sit down next to Seth on the bed.

For a few moments, it was quiet. They just stared at each other before Roman finished off his cup of coffee and set the mug down on the nightstand. "They're right you know." Roman said and Stormie blinked up at him, her expression blank. "You are good, despite not training a long time." He clarified.

"We've seen your matches in developmental." Seth revealed, "You're a lot better than some of the girls who've been there much longer." Stormie felt her cheeks and ears growing hot and thanked God that her skin was olive and the blush wasn't as noticeable, but judging by the way Seth's smile widened, she knew he saw it. "You just need to trust that everything will be alright for you."

"You know, just because your brother isn't here, doesn't mean you can't still talk to him." Roman reminded, and Stormie immediately raced for her carry on bag next to her suitcase, unlocking the screen, to find that she had two unread text messages.

The first one was from Cody's fiancé Brandi.

**'Cody made it home safely last night, just thought you should know'**

It did make Stormie feel better knowing that Cody was safe at home with Brandi to comfort him. She typed a quick, '**Thanks for letting me know, send him my love'** back and went on to read the next message. She was delighted to see that Bo finally responded after 24 hours.

**'Hey babe, sorry to hear about Cody. Text me when you know the details about your flight back home and I'll pick you up from the airport. Love you!'**

Stormie frowned as she read the text and replied back.

**'I'm not flying back home now, I'm still traveling with the main roster.'**

He didn't text back.

* * *

Triple H smirked to himself as he watched the video on his laptop just as his wife Stephanie walked into the make-shift office in a room in Target Center. "What are you doing?" She asked curiously, listening to the familiar sound of a body hitting the canvas. Triple H waved her over and angled the laptop screen so they could both watch.

"Stormie Rhodes?" Stephanie asked, sounding skeptical. "She's been training a grand total of two months." Triple H responded. They both kept their eyes on the screen and watched a video of Stormie's training that was sent to them from Sara Del Rey down in developmental, who trained with Stormie when Daniel Bryan couldn't.

"She's good." Stephanie admitted grudgingly, watching as she and Emma traded submission holds. Stormie caught Emma in a lotus lock and made her submit.

"She's better than nearly all the girls in developmental and half the girls on the main roster." Triple H said, sitting back in his black leather office chair. "She's beautiful, she's young, she's intelligent. She has some serious potential." He glanced up at his wife from the corner of his eye and saw the grin of understanding start to grow on her face. "Don't you think?"

"Yes." Stephanie smirked. She stood behind Triple H as he typed a text message to Stormie and pressed send.

* * *

Smackdown was being taped in Minneapolis and it was decided that Stormie would ride with the Shield because Cody wasn't there anymore. It was not as awkward as she originally thought it would be, they played silly driving games, told stories and sang along with the radio. She was having fun until she received a text message.

**'All talent is required to be on the main stage at the Smackdown taping tonight for a mandatory meeting in regards to yesterdays actions against Cody Rhodes. This includes you as well, Stormie. I'm sure you must be confused about your current arrangements within the main roster, and I can understand if you're a little bit worried about coming to the Smackdown taping tonight, but I assure you, what happened to Cody will not happen to you. I can tell you have more respect then him.'**

That message made Stormie nervous but it also made her laugh when she saw that he signed it as "13-time World Champion and Chief Operating Office Hunter Hearst Helmsley". She didn't respond to the text because Roman was just pulling the Tahoe into the parking garage of the Target Center. All the suitcases were left in the back of the Tahoe aside from the gym bags and carry on bags that held the essential things they would need; ring gear, towels, water bottles and protein bars.

"Can you find your way to the Divas locker room?" Chelsey asked as she began following Dean, Seth and Roman to the Shield's private locker room. Stormie nodded and watched as they all disappeared around a corner. There were various signs all around the backstage area, but it still took Stormie fifteen minutes to find the Divas locker room. She stuck her carry on in one of the unused lockers and carried her iPhone and earbuds in her back pocket.

Before she knew it, seven thirty rolled around and Stormie walked with her arm linked around Chelsey's to the Gorilla position. The ramp was full of Superstars and Divas and there was a single microphone on a stand in the middle. Triple H, Vickie Guerrero and Brad Maddox all stood in the middle of the ring and Seth, Roman and Dean stood between the ramp and the ring, acting like a private army.

It surprised Stormie at first to see them there, she spent the entire day traveling with them and saw them in an entirely different light. She stood in between Chelsey and Rob Van Dam, trying to keep her face expressionless and not let the anxiety and fear that she was feeling show. Triple H started the little meeting by of course mentioning Cody and saying things like, "Cody Rhodes fired Cody Rhodes". Stormie struggled to remember the final pieces of advice that Cody gave her before he was forced to leave the building. _Hold your tongue._

He continued onward, saying this meeting was an open forum and the members of the roster were allowed to speak their minds without fearing for their jobs, but at first nobody dared to move. Eventually Damien Sandow was the first person to take the stage. "I, for one, fully support the termination of Cody Rhodes."

Stormie balled her hands into fists and glared at him. Of course he would say that, after all the hell Cody put him through after Sandow betrayed him at the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View. "After all," He continued, "Cody exemplifies everything that is bad for business."

Stormie bit her lip to hide the smile that threatened to cross her face when Triple H called Sandow out on his butt-kissing and the small smirk that had grown on Sandow's face was quickly wiped away. Kofi Kingston was the next person to step forward, claiming that he was going to be honest with Triple H.

"Ever since you fired Cody Rhodes, the entire locker room has been living in fear, and maybe it's just me, but I don't see how that's best for business."

It made Stormie feel better knowing that the other Superstars and Divas didn't agree with The Authority. While Triple H was responding to Kofi, Heath Slater and the rest of 3MB decided that now was a good time to interrupt and complain about Big Show. Triple H continued to ask for more people to be open and honest.

RVD patted Stormie's shoulder before he went to stand in front of the microphone, saying that when Triple H brought him back a few months ago, he was under the impression that things were better. The most Triple H responded with was that he had been waiting since 2000 for RVD to call him "dude".

A few other Superstars had their say, and everyone who had something to say that wasn't "best for business", like Rob Van Dam and Kofi Kingston was put in a match. After Triple H implicated Daniel Bryan for not being on the stage, his attention turned to Stormie and she felt her entire body go numb.

"I couldn't help but notice, how the other Superstars stuck up for Cody Rhodes when his own sister wouldn't. I can see you standing there, Stormie." He gave a little wave in her direction. "Don't you have anything to say?" She could hear Cody's voice so clearly in her head, like he was standing right next to her, whispering in her ear, _Don't trust The Authority, hold your tongue, mind your own business. _Stormie shook her head almost violently.

"No?" Triple H asked, almost mockingly. "Aww, that's too bad." He frowned before suddenly smiling. "But I don't want you to worry about what's going to happen to you. We're not going to fire you, or send you back to developmental. We like you, Stormie." Triple H smiled, but it did nothing to calm her down.

"We think you have real potential, which is why we're going to help you along by giving you your debut match right here tonight on Smackdown against another debuting Diva." Stormie's blood ran cold and her heart jumped into her throat.

"Tonight, it'll be Stormie Rhodes, one on one, against Chelsey Salvatore." Stormie turned her head to look at Chelsey, who looked just as surprised, and she felt extremely grateful that Cody gave her the advice to always bring impromptu ring gear with her before he was fired.

The other Superstars and Divas left the stage as Randy Orton made his way down to the ring to face Rob Van Dam, a pair of hands were on Stormie's shoulders, steering her towards the curtain. As soon as she as through them, she made a mad dash as far away as she could, eventually wedging herself between two plastic bins filled with colorful wires.

She knew it didn't do any good to dwell on the inevitable, but what else was she supposed to do? Apart from the training she received under her oldest brother Dustin's supervision, she had only been in developmental for two months. She knew the basics and a little bit more, but not enough to get through a match. Even though Chelsey was eighteen years old, just like she was, her birthday was three months ahead of Stormie's, meaning she trained a few months more.

While she sat between the bins lost in her thoughts, a stage hand informed her that her match would be on right after Ryback and Dolph Ziggler, which didn't leave her much time to prepare, considering that Randy Orton just defeated Rob Van Dam.

Dragging her feet, Stormie made her way to the Divas locker room to change. She had various colors for her ring gear, but the one she was wearing tonight was a reflection of her family. A pair of shorts and a matching crop top with laces holding the front together, giving the illusion of cleavage. The material was black and covered in gold polka dots, a reflection of her father and Dustin, she was also going to be wearing a long sleeveless jacket similar to the one Cody wore.

She found a secluded hallway and pulled up her iTunes on her iPhone and tapped on the playlist labeled "Workout". The first song that played was "I'm Not Okay" by My Chemical Romance and she instantly felt the muscles in her face relax and her lips turn up into a smile as she mouthed the words and began stretching.

She only got through that one song, barely reaching the chorus in "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons when the stage hand returned and told her it was time for her to make her way to Gorilla. She stopped by the Divas locker room to put her cell phone back in her carry on and let the stage hand escort her to Gorilla. When she put herself in the shoes of the other Superstars and Divas that were watching her walk to the ring, she must have looked like she was walking to the gallows.

Chelsey was already standing alone in the Gorilla position, but she and Stormie didn't get a chance to speak because the stage hand was practically pushing Chelsey out the curtain when the Raw theme song began playing. Because neither girl had been prepared to have their debut match tonight, they didn't have time to get an entrance together, Stormie almost tripped when the stage hand shoved her through the curtain as the Smackdown theme song replaced Raw's, but thankfully she caught herself just in time to make it look intentional.

"And her opponent, also making her WWE debut, from Marietta, Georgia, Stormie Rhodes!"

As nervous as she was about the whole situation, she was also ecstatic to hear the crowd cheering and a bunch of hands reached out to catch the kisses she blew to the audience before making her way down the ramp, slapping hands and even stopping once to give a little girl with a Cody Rhodes sign a hug. She felt her cheeks and ears burning when she wiped her Converse and stepped into the ring through the bottom and middle ropes, listening to some men in the audience wolf-whistle.

It just occurred to her what her father might have to say about her ring gear. Hopefully the polka dots would be enough to assuage him.

Stormie removed her jacket and set it on the floor outside of the ring before she stood up straight and looked at Chelsey from across the ring. She looked just as nervous as Stormie felt, but Stormie decided that she didn't have as much reason to as she did. While it was true that Stormie trained with Daniel Bryan, one of the best Superstars on the main roster, Chelsey had been training for almost four months longer than she had with Seth Rollins.

Stormie tried to stop herself from chewing her bottom lip and said silent prayer that she didn't throw up when the bell rang and the match got underway. Stormie tried to not think of this as her debut match, but instead as a practice match; She and Chelsey had practice matches all the time in developmental. Stormie tightened the laces on her Converse and straight up. When the referee rang the bell, both girls circled each other for a minute before locking up.

Chelsey quickly moved around Stormie and locked her arms around her waist, tossing her over her head with a German suplex, quickly transitioning into a pin. The referee's hand didn't even touch the mat before Stormie kicked out, rolling backwards to land on her feet. When Chelsey got back to her feet, she was knocked back down by a dropkick that hit her in the chest. Two more quickly followed.

By this point, Stormie was basically hitting Chelsey with any move she could think of, but she took a little too long deciding her next move, when she turned around she was met with a spear that was a little too enthusiastic because Stormie tumbled right through the middle rope and landed painfully hard on the thinly padded concrete. A flare of pain shot up her back and traveled to her head, all the air left her lungs and for a few seconds she just laid there, staring up at the lights above, trying to gasp for air.

Chelsey appeared in her line of vision and pulled her back into a standing position, her hands grabbing a handful of Stormie's shorts for leverage as she rolled her into the ring and climbed in after her. It hurt Stormie to even inhale, so she didn't bother to try and kick out when Chelsey covered her and got the 3 count.

Stormie was helped to the back by the referee and Chelsey when Smackdown went to a commercial break and she found herself sitting on a table in the trainers room, with an oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth misting her asthma medication through the plastic tubing.

"Is she going to be okay?" Chelsey asked nervously as she stood off to the side and watched as the trainer moved his finger back and forth in front of her eyes. Stormie winced when his hands touched her back right on the shoulder blades, which had taken most of the impact.

"She's fine. There's no concussion, but she will be sore for a few days." He answered, pulling Stormie's crop top away from her back to take a look at the fresh set of bruises that were on her skin. "Try to avoid doing anything to strenuous."

Chelsey went back to the Divas locker room and got her carry on, helping her change out of her ring gear and back into her skinny jeans and Charmander crop top. Seth had a match against Daniel Bryan in the main event, so they had no choice but to wait for them, even though Chelsey knew that Stormie wanted nothing more than to go rent a hotel room and sleep off the headache that was starting to make itself known.

Stormie curled herself into a ball on the sofa in The Shield's locker room and laid her head on the arm of the sofa. She gave up hoping that things would be better tomorrow, right now she was just praying that they wouldn't get any worse.


	4. Chapter 4

Stormie sighed heavily from the back seat of Roman's Tahoe as she stared out window, taking in all the sights of Toronto. Chelsey turned around in her seat and eyed her guiltily. "Are you in pain?" Stormie let an irritated moan pass through her lips that Chelsey automatically assumed was pained and she barked at Seth, who was sitting in the seat next to Stormie, "Don't just sit there! Fluff her pillow!"

It had been nearly a week since her debut match against Chelsey ended with her being speared out of the ring and onto the floor. The bruises weren't starting to fade yet, but she didn't feel the pain anymore. Chelsey never seemed to believe her when she told her, so Stormie didn't even bother anymore. She waved away Seth's hands when he reached for the pillow that Chelsey insisted she have against her back.

"For the last time, I'm fine!" She said through gritted teeth and Chelsey frowned as she turned back around in her seat.

Stormie sighed again and leaned her head on the window. She was wrong to be so discourteous to Chelsey when she was only concerned for Stormie's well-being, and she would apologize to her later, but right now, all she could think about was the impending situation at the Air Canada Centre.

On Friday evening she received a text message from her oldest brother Dustin after her debut match aired on Smackdown. He said he had a plan, which involved him going to Raw tonight. As much as she trusted her big brother, she was scared that he wasn't going to win his match against Randy Orton. If he didn't win, where would that leave him? Where would that leave Cody? She shook her head of those thoughts when Roman pulled up to the back entrance of the Air Canada Centre.

The Shield received boos when they stepped out of the car, which was to be expected, as typically heels were booed. But what really surprised Stormie was when she and Chelsey got out of the car, people cheered for them, despite only seeing them last week in a three minute match.

They signed autographs and took pictures before they went inside. Stormie wasn't on the match card for tonight. That made her a little sad. She knew that her debut match sucked big time, but she felt it was only bad because she and Chelsey were given less than an hour's notice. They could have put on a great match if they were prepared for it.

Chelsey wasn't on the match card either, so she went straight with The Shield to their private locker room while Stormie sat in catering with a small bag of Doritos and a bottle of Vitamin water. She listened to music on her iPhone as she snacked, frowning when she felt hot breath on the back of her neck.

When she turned around, she jumped in surprised when someone breathed hard in her face. Her head jerked back and she blinked a few times before she realized that it was Dustin standing behind her.

Her loud squeal caused half the people in catering to look in her general direction as she threw her arms around his neck and he laughed as he caught her and swung her around a few times before setting her down on her feet, she still didn't release him from the hug.

"I missed you!" She mumbled into his T-shirt.

"I missed you, too," The last time Stormie saw Dustin was almost three months ago at the joint birthday celebration that was thrown for her and Cody, her birthday being 3 days before his meant they always celebrated them together. That was also the day Stormie told her father she was secretly training to be a wrestler.

As they walked down the hallway to Dustin's private locker room, Stormie couldn't help but feel like it was similar to the night when Cody had to fight for his own career. Dustin put his gym bag down and plopped down onto the sofa, pulling Stormie down with him. She curled into his side and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"So how has your training been going?" Dustin asked, picking up the remote for the tv and switching it on. He flipped through the channels before he finally found Raw. "I saw your debut match on Smackdown. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." Stormie responded, her eyes glued to the screen when Edge's theme song played and he ran out onto the stage. "The match totally sucked though."

"Well it was kind of sprung on you without much notice." Dustin said reasonably. "I taught you the basics, and I know you're training with Daniel Bryan, so it's practically impossible for you to be a bad wrestler. You just weren't ready for your debut match." He concluded and Stormie agreed with him completely. They sat in a comfortable silence as they watched The Cutting Edge and when a commercial break came on, Dustin turned his attention back to Stormie.

"How's Bo doing down in developmental?" He asked.

"He's good." She answered, standing up to dig her cell phone out of her back pocket. "He's keeping busy as the NXT Champion." Stormie excused herself from the room when Dustin went to paint his face and transform into Goldust. It was a simple question, but it made Stormie realize that it had been a while since she received a text from Bo, despite her messaging him several times this past week. She walked around the arena until she finally found the door with a piece of paper taped to it that said **The Wyatt Family** in bold letters.

She knocked on the door and waited patiently, inwardly flinching when Erick Rowan opened the door and stared down at her with the sheep mask covering his face and his head tilted slightly to the side. He stepped back and allowed her to cross the threshold. Harper stared at her and said nothing, but he wasn't who she was here to see.

"Hi Bray." The leader of the Wyatt Family looked up upon hearing his name being called and a wide smile grew on his face. He stood up from the rocking chair and crossed the room in three short strides, wrapping his arms tightly around Stormie, pulling her into his chest.

"You had your debut match before you even came to see me, sweet peach." Bray said in a slightly accusing voice. Stormie pulled away from the hug and grinned apologetically.

"I know, everything was just kind of thrown at me all at once, but I'm here now." She pressed a friendly kiss to Bray's cheek and sat down in his rocking chair, not noticing the half-furious, half-startled look she received from Harper (and maybe Rowan, but nobody could really tell with that mask). Bray waved him down and sat on the bench across from her.

"I actually wanted to ask you something." Bray raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. "Have you talked to Bo at all this week? It seems like he's been ignoring my calls and text messages."

Bray paused, blinking his blue eyes at her before he responded. "I haven't talked to him at all this week."

Stormie frowned. "Oh okay... Well, when you do talk to him, tell him to call me, okay?" She stood up from the rocking chair. "I'll let you get ready for your match."

She gave him another kiss on the cheek and left the locker room, Rowan shutting the door behind her. They stayed in silence until it was time for Bray's match against Dolph Ziggler.

As Rowan was dragging the rocking chair behind them on their way to Gorilla position, Harper couldn't help but ask, "Why did you lie to her?" Bray pretended not to hear him.

* * *

By the time Stormie returned to Dustin's locker room, Bray just pressed a kiss to Dolph's forehead and planted him with Sister Abigail for the win. Dustin's face was already painted, but he was still wearing a pair of blue jeans and his chest was bare beneath a black zip-up hoodie. Stormie sat down on the couch and watched Brie, Naomi and Nattie defeat Aksana, Alicia and Layla with AJ commentating.

Dustin returned after the Divas match and sat down to watch with her before he began his stretches and warm ups. During Damien Sandow's match against The Miz, a stage hand came to collect Dustin for an interview he had with Renee Young before his match.

Stormie stayed in his locker room to watch the live broadcast. It made her feel sad to hear that Dustin thought of himself as the screw-up of their family, because Stormie certainly didn't view him that way.

The interview seemed to be going fine until Triple H stuck his abnormally large nose into it. Dustin was well aware of all the pressure of winning this match for Cody, and Triple H just made it ten times worse.

Stormie hated to admit it, but he did bring up a point that had been bothering her all day; What would happen to Cody if Dustin were to lose? She shook her head, she couldn't afford to think like that; Dustin couldn't afford to think like that either, but as he sat on his haunches across the ring from Randy Orton, Stormie knew he was thinking about it.

"I should be out there with him..." She muttered to herself, and before she knew it, she was running through the halls, pushing past the other Superstars and Divas in the Gorilla position.

She didn't know exactly what she was thinking as she rushed past the curtain and ran down the ramp, ignoring the screaming and cheering fans. She didn't think of the repercussions she would receive for going to ring side during a match, right now all she could think about was how much pressure Dustin must be feeling, even more so after Triple H interrupted his interview.

"What are you doing down here?" Dustin asked as soon as he noticed Stormie nearing the ring. She used the middle rope to pull herself up to the apron and reached through the ropes to wrap her arms around his neck.

"I'm here to support you." She answered.

Dustin pulled away from the hug. "Stormie, I don't want you down here."

He must have seen the hurt expression on her face because he frowned guiltily. "I don't want you to get hurt." He corrected himself, pulling her up so she was standing on the apron, not kneeling.

"If you're going to stay out here, I want you to go over to the announce table and sit down. Don't get involved." She nodded her head and did as she was told, taking a seat in the empty chair next to JBL, pulling her knees up to her chest and waving away the spare headset he offered her.

Her heart was beating pretty fast to begin with, but when the bell rang and the match got underway, it began racing. Dustin stared Orton down for a few seconds before they both charged and Dustin caught him with a few right hands before Orton landed a kick to the mid section and attempted to bounce Dustin's head off the turnbuckle. Dustin countered and Orton went face first into the turnbuckle instead.

The crowd was completely behind Dustin and, for the beginning of the match, he seemed to have the upper hand. Eventually Orton rolled out of the ring to catch his breath and think of a new game plan. Stormie felt her muscles tense up as he stalked the length of the side of the ring the announce table was on. Thankfully all of his attention was on Dustin and he didn't spare Stormie a single glance.

The more she thought about it, the more she came to realize that no, that was not a good thing. She didn't want to be scared, she wanted to help, she wanted to distract him. She was half-way out of her seat when she remembered that Dustin didn't want her to get involved.

For now, he had the match under control, so she relaxed and settled into her seat when Orton got back into the ring, but she told herself, no matter what Dustin told her, she would get herself involved if it looked like he needed help.

He was doing this for Cody, even though she was sure that Cody didn't ask him too, and so far, she had done nothing. Cody was her brother too, and she was going to do whatever she could to help Dustin win his career back.

She watched the match intensely over her knees, partly on the edge of her seat, trying to keep herself from biting the glow in the dark nail polish off her fingernails. She cheered when Dustin had the upper hand and booed when the momentum shifted to Orton. When Dustin was tossed into the steel ring post, she immediately jumped out of her chair and kneeled down by his side.

"Dustin, are you okay?" She asked with worry in her voice. Some crazy part of her mind flashed back to when Daniel Bryan told her that, when on camera, always refer to the Superstars and Divas by their ring names. To her crazy subconscious, she simply shrugged her shoulders. Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, JBL, and even The Authority have called him Dustin a few times, why couldn't she?

"I'm fine." Dustin hissed through his teeth. "Stormie, go back to your seat. Right now." She heard movement behind her and turned around to see Orton stalking their way. She scrambled backwards and watched as he pulled Dustin up and dropped him spine first on the barricade.

Jerry helped her to her feet and she stood by him and watched as Orton threw Dustin into the steel ring steps before he picked him up and tossed him back into the ring. As soon as Orton followed him in, Stormie went back to her seat by JBL and continued to watch with nervous anticipation as Orton seemed to dominate until Dustin began gaining momentum and fighting back.

She got out of her seat again and began pounding her fists on the canvas, shouting encouragements at Dustin. Orton went for a back body drop, but in true Goldust fashion, Dustin countered by dropping to his knees and striking him with an uppercut. Orton fell back into the turnbuckle and Dustin followed, climbing to the second rope and landing ten consecutive punches to his forehead.

Dustin pulled Orton back and Irish whipped him into the turnbuckle. Luckily Orton had the chance to stop himself before he ran right into the referee, but it gave Dustin a chance to roll him up for a pin. Stormie was jumping up and down, counting along with the crowd but sadly, Orton kicked out at 2.

He quickly got the upper hand by DDTing Dustin from the second rope. He took his attention off of Dustin to mock Daniel Bryan's signature "Yes! Yes! Yes!" cheer before he dropped to the canvas and began pounding his fists to the mat. Everyone said he was a snake, but when he set up for his RKO, he looked more like a gorilla to Stormie.

She shouted warnings at Dustin, and just as Orton was about to nail him with an RKO, Dustin took a page out of Cody's book and reversed it with the Cross Rhodes and immediately went for a cover. Stormie shouted along with the crowd and the referee, groaning in frustration when Dustin only got a 2 count

Dustin was frustrated too, and she believed it was that frustration that lead to Orton hitting his next RKO and getting the 3 count. She watched in disbelief as Justin Roberts announced Orton as the winner and the referee handed him his WWE Championship. Orton took a microphone and stood over Dustin in the middle of the ring.

"Goldust, it looks like your dream of saving your baby brother Cody's career has been... shattered." He mocked, before he continued. "Just like Daniel Bryan's dream of taking this-" He held his championship above his head. "-away from me, will be shattered at Night Of Champions."

Dustin left the ring shortly after Orton did, and Stormie tried her best to keep up with him. Even though he was obviously tired from his match, his legs were much longer than hers and he was faster. She didn't catch up to him right away, she stopped by a monitor backstage where she saw him walking back to his locker room, trying to hold back tears and her heart pounded painfully against her ribcage when Stephanie McMahon stopped him.

"You must be so disappointed." She said, "I know Cody is disappointed, and his wife-to-be is disappointed, I mean, Cody doesn't have a job anymore and that's all because of you. You let your brother down, you let your father down, you let your sister down, you let your whole family down, you let the WWE Universe down. I mean, how does that feel?" She asked. "How does it feel to be a loser? Just like your brother. So you know what? Why don't you go join him in the unemployment line?" Dustin began to walk away, but Stephanie grabbed his arm.

"Oh, and Dustin?" She said, smirking. "Tell your dad I said hi."

As soon as the camera cut back to what was going on in the ring, Stormie ran to Dustin's locker room as fast as she could and found him sitting on the floor. She knew he didn't want to talk about it, and quite frankly, she didn't either, so they both stayed silent.

She removed his gloves and grabbed a wash cloth from his gym bag, taking it into the bathroom to wet it with warm water before she returned and sat Seiza in front of him, her butt resting on her heels as she washed the paint off of his face.

Dustin thanked her quietly before he headed to the bathroom to change. Well he was changing, Stormie quickly went back to the Divas locker room to get her bag, she also sent a quick text to Chelsey.

**'Hey, I'm sorry for snapping at you in the car. I'll see you tomorrow in the lobby of the hotel, I'm spending the night with Dustin.'**

Chelsey replied back a few minutes later.

**'Don't even worry about it. We'll leave your luggage at the front desk. See you in the morning.'**

When she returned to the locker room, Dustin was just finishing packing up his ring gear. He tossed the gym bag over his shoulder and took Stormie's small hand in his larger one, leading her to the parking garage that was almost completely devoid of cars. Raw ended about fifteen minutes ago and anyone who didn't have to be here was already gone.

Dustin put his bag in the backseat of a red Toyota Corolla and climbed into the passenger seat, leaving Stormie to drive. The ride was mostly silent, Stormie couldn't help but glance at Dustin out of the corner of her eye as she drove.

It was a sad sight, he was so heartbroken, so devastated, so disappointed in himself. She knew he didn't want to talk, but she had to say something.

"Cody knows that you did your best tonight." She said quietly. "You didn't disappoint him, or Daddy or Brandi or anyone else. You know that, don't you?"

He shifted around in his seat, so Stormie knew he heard her, but he didn't say anything. They entered the lobby of the hotel and Stormie saw Seth walking towards the front desk, looking severely out of place dragging a Winnie the Pooh suitcase. His face lit up when he noticed Stormie and began a brisk walk in her direction.

"I was hoping I'd meet you down here." He admitted, coming to a halt when he was about a foot away from her, Dustin left them alone to rent a room with 2 queen sized beds. "Didn't feel safe leaving your suitcase behind the desk."

"You looked very manly dragging it behind you." Stormie teased, reaching out to grab the handle.

"Thanks." Seth laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It suits you, you know? The suitcase." He clarified, handing over the suitcase. "It's cute just like you are." He boldly pressed a kiss to her cheek and left for the elevators.

Stormie's cheeks and ears burned for some stupid reason, and Dustin made things worse when he handed her a plastic key card and said, "I thought you were dating Bo."

"I am." Stormie insisted and Dustin didn't mention it again as they headed up the stairs to the 3rd floor and down the hall to room number 303. She slid her key card into the lock and the light flashed green, allowing them access.

She claimed the bed closest to the window and took a quick shower, changing into a pair of hot pink leggings and a three sizes too big In Punk We Trust T-shirt. Dustin went to shower when she was finished and Stormie jumped onto the comfortable red blanket that covered the bed. She felt exhausted even though she didn't have a match tonight.

It was all the emotional drama from Dustin's match. If she was feeling this tired, she didn't even want to imagine how he must have been feeling right now. Even though Stormie told him that nobody would blame him for losing, she knew he would blame himself. She yawned and quickly got under the blankets, resting her head on a pillow. She would give him tonight to be alone because that's what he wanted, but tomorrow morning, she promised herself that she would talk to him.


	5. Chapter 5

Stormie never had to play older sibling to her older sibling before, and she was happy that she wouldn't have to any time soon. Dustin was already dressed and ready by the time she woke up, so she hurried to get changed into a pair of high-rise bootcut jeans and a baby blue and grey striped tank top with a hooded grey cardigan like sweater over it.

All of their things were packed away in suitcases, and Dustin promised Stormie breakfast at the Tim Horton's down the street. They got their respective drinks and pastries and began the walk back to the hotel. Dustin was smiling as he sipped his coffee and took a bite of his doughnut, and Stormie didn't want to bring up anything from last night and bring his mood down, but she was slightly concerned about this sudden mood change. She pushed back the plastic top of her cup and took a small sip, never taking her eyes off of him.

"You seem like you're in a good mood." She said carefully, waiting for him to break down again, but to her surprise, Dustin's smile widened.

"I am." He responded, eating the last of his doughnut before he washed it down with coffee as they entered their hotel room. "I talked to Cody last night while you were in the shower." He admitted, picking up his suitcase.

Stormie did the same and they went down to the lobby to check out. "He knows that I tried my best, and he doesn't hate me like I thought he would." Dustin gave Stormie a parting hug and pressed a kiss to her cheek."But it's not over yet."

She frowned and went to ask him what he meant by that, but he had already disappeared through the doors.

"Hey cookie!" Stormie turned around upon hearing her familiar nickname and she saw Chelsey, Dean, Roman and Seth walking towards her. Her cheeks flushed when Seth grinned at her and winked. "Ready for a five hour drive to Ottawa?"

She looked back to the lobby doors just in time to see Dustin's Toyota Corolla pull out of the parking lot. With a small sigh, she followed The Shield and Chelsey out of the hotel.

* * *

Stormie received a text message late on Sunday night after the Night of Champions Pay-Per-View from her father. Dusty was going to be appearing on Raw in Cleveland on Monday, apparently Stephanie had a business proposition for him. It was no longer the remark that Dustin made on Tuesday that was bothering her.

As she sat on the bench in the Divas locker room, failing at keeping her mind occupied by playing Mahjong on her phone, she nervously wondered what sort of business proposition Stephanie had for her father. When she could no longer find matching tiles and all her hints ran out, Stormie exited the app and locked her phone, only to unlock it when tweeting birds alerted her of a new text message. She didn't recognize the number, but the text message made her heart drop into her stomach.

**'I'm really sorry for what we're about to do to your dad, Stormie. It's nothing personal, I swear."**

She didn't bother replying to the text, instead, she pulled up her contacts and selected her father's number, swearing quietly when it went straight to voicemail. She plowed through Summer Rae and Eva Marie in her haste to get to the Gorilla position and skidded to a halt in front of one of the monitors that was showing the live broadcast.

Her father was already in the ring and Stephanie stood across from him, holding out a square piece of paper to Dusty, claiming it was a wedding present for Cody and Brandi.

"Bed, Bath and Beyond?" Dusty asked, throwing the gift certificate aside. The corners of Stormie's mouth began to lift up in a small smile. "Let's cut through the BS and get on with your proposition."

"Alright, alright. So let me relate to you, okay?" She said. "You're the son of a plumber. I can relate to that, because I am the daughter of a genius. The genius behind this sports entertainment phenomenon."

"There's a lot of pressure there." She said, "There's a lot of pressure to succeed. And as we all know, business is all about succeeding, so getting to the chase and doing what's right of business, we would like to offer Cody Rhodes his job back."

"That's all I want." Dusty said, looking very happy. "That's good. Me and you are done." He began to leave the ring, but Stephanie stopped him with her next words.

"Or, we can give that job to your older son. The one who fought so valiantly for Cody last week on Raw. There's only one open spot, and who better to make that choice than you." She smirked.

"No, no, no, no, no. Let me tell you something, you're not going to catch me off-guard with this Steph. Let me tell you something," Dusty continued. "I'm not going to make that choice. And let me ask you a question, too."

Stephanie immediately cut him off. "Before you ask me a question, let me put it to you this way."

"No-"

"No, no, you need to listen to this-"

"Don't interrupt me!" Stormie reflexively winced, Dusty said the same thing to Cody and herself when they were younger and tried to talk their way out of trouble, they always knew how serious he was because he never shouted otherwise.

Stephanie didn't listen. "You can give this job to your glorious baby boy, the one who has always done everything absolutely right, the one who just got married, has his whole life ahead of him. Or you can give this job to the son that you neglected all those years traveling on the road."

"Dusty, I know you blame yourself for Dustin's transgressions, and this is your chance to make that right. You could be a hero to your sons, to your daughter, who just started her wrestling career and has no one backstage to look out for her."

There was a small crowd gathering around the monitor backstage, similar to the night Cody was fired. Stormie could feel someone's hands on her shoulder and another person muttering in her ear, saying that she did in fact have people who were looking out for her.

She shushed them all and moved closer to the screen.

"The choice is yours." Stephanie said, "The opportunity is right here in front of you."

"Let me ask you a question." Dusty repeated, but this time Stephanie didn't interrupt. "In the morning, when you get up and go to breakfast, and you've got your beautiful daughters, how are they, by the way?"

"They're wonderful, but this isn't about me or my family-"

"No, no, let me ask this: You line them up at the table and you say, "Okay, you're my favorite, and you other two, go on back to bed", is that what you do? That's my answer to you, and I'll tell you something else. I'll tell you, I'll tell your husband, I'll tell this company-"

"You know, this is all very typical of you." Stephanie said, pointing her finger at Dusty. "You make this all about yourself, it's all about Dusty Rhodes and his decision. Well what about Cody? What about Dustin? You're just going to leave them behind, like you always have, putting yourself first? I hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive you." She sneered.

Dusty brought the microphone back up to his lips. "Stephanie, you can forgive this. You can go straight to hell!" The entire arena burst into cheer as Dusty went to leave the ring, but once again, Stephanie' words stopped him. "Well I'm sorry you feel that way."

The moment the words, _"Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta, Shield"_ cut through the cheers of the crowd, and all three members of The Shield began making their way through the crowd to reach the ring, Stormie knew it was one of them that texted her.

Not Chelsey, obviously, and not Dean either, because he was saved as a contact in her phone, though she barely called or texted him. That left Roman or Seth and somehow, she knew it wasn't Roman.

Seth, Dean and Roman had just hopped the barricade and go onto the ring apron when Stephanie stopped them. "Hang on a second. This hardly seems fair, I've got somebody who's been waiting in the back who can maybe even things out."

She turned to face the entrance ramp and called out, "Oh, Big Show, would you mind coming out here please?" Stormie felt a large hand pat her on top of her head as Big Show walked past her and reluctantly headed down to the ring.

"Allow me to shed a little light on this situation here, Dream." She said as soon as Big Show stepped over the top rope and his entrance music cut off. "So since you couldn't make a decision about which one of your sons gets a job here, then you're going to have another choice. Would you prefer to be dismembered by The Shield?" She asked, pointing to Dean, Roman and Seth. "Or knocked out by the Big Show? Your choice."

Stormie could feel arms around her waist and didn't even realize that she was struggling to break free so she could run to the ring until The Shield armed themselves with steel chairs when Dusty wouldn't make a choice and Big Show refused to knock him out. She elbowed Jey Uso in the stomach and ran past the curtain and down the ramp as fast as she could, but before she could even make it down the ramp, she was caught from behind and put into a half-hearted chokehold that didn't do anything but keep her from moving.

Her eyes filled with tears as she watched Big Show hug her father before he knocked him out. Seth, Roman and Dean dropped their chairs and made their way backstage, Seth frowning at her apologetically. She was released from the chokehold and just turned around in time to see Chelsey followed The Shield up the ramp before Stormie climbed into the ring and crawled on her hands and knees to where her father was laying. He was unconscious and the doctor was shaking his shoulder, trying to resuscitate him.

Eventually he lifted his walkie-talkie to his mouth and called for the paramedics. She didn't let the tears fall from her eyes until her father was lifted into the ambulance and Big Show lifted her off her feet in a hug, muttering that he was sorry again before he put her in the back of the ambulance and climbed in after her.

Stormie was not allowed to accompany her father, so she was stuck sitting in the emergency room waiting area until the doctor came to talk to her. Big Show left to get them both something to eat and drink, and Stormie sat in an uncomfortable pink chair, almost ready to throw her expensive iPhone across the room if she heard the sound of tweeting birds one more time. Only seconds after putting the phone on vibrate did she receive yet another text message.

Barely resisting the urge to throw the phone, she finally decided to unlock her phone and look at her messages. She bit her bottom lip as she read through them and deleted them all, not even bothering to reply to them. She pulled up a new message and put in Bo's contact information before typing a text message.

**'My daddy's in the hospital, I really wish you were here with me, I need somebody to hug and a shoulder to cry on.'**

She received a reply about five minutes later and this time, her phone did go sailing across the room when she read it.

**'You're 18 years old, Stormie. It's time to grow up and stop acting like a baby.'**

Big Show raised an eyebrow when he returned with bottles of pop and bags of chips and saw the shattered remains of Stormie's iPhone 4S but he wisely remained quiet and handed her the bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper and bag of Lays barbecue flavored potato chips.

* * *

Dusty was released from the hospital the next morning after being kept overnight for observations. Thankfully he hadn't sustained a concussion and nothing else was seriously wrong with him, so as soon as he signed himself out of the hospital, he was on the next flight back to Georgia.

Stormie took a taxi to the nearest electronic store and bought herself a new iPhone 5S before she took another taxi back to the hotel that Chelsey told her via text message that the Shield was staying at and received a key card from the front desk. She hesitated as she stood in front of room 1246. After five minutes of just standing there, she slid the plastic key card into the lock and when the light flashed green, she entered the room.

To her instant surprise, the only luggage in the room was hers. Did The Shield already leave for Cincinnati? The thought was strange to her, considering she had been riding with them for weeks. She wasn't hurt that they were gone, but after she showered and changed into a jean skirt and a red T-shirt with Captain America's shield on the front, she realized that she had no way to get to Cincinnati without them.

She spent ten minutes outside of the hotel texting everyone she knew in the locker room, but all of them were already on the road, too far away to come back and pick her up. She plopped down on the curb next to her Winnie the Pooh luggage set and sighed, feeling defeated, and then jumped in surprise when one hand pulled the Toronto Blue Jays snapback she bought back in Canada off her head, and another tugged on one of her French braids.

"That's creepy." Stormie commented, looking down at her scuffed up old Converse. "Pulling on a girl's hair like that."

"Not in bed, it's not." Seth said from behind her, revealing himself to be the one who pulled her hair, Stormie cursed herself for blushing when she looked up and caught the wink he sent her.

Dean looked at the cap in his hands, gave a snort of disgust and pulled his own Cincinnati Reds hat off, placing it awkwardly on Stormie's head. "That's much better."

Stormie glowered up at him and snatched her hat back, throwing his back at him. He caught it easily and put it on backwards. Seth sat down on the curb next to her, his knee brushing against hers. She immediately pulled her legs closer together and tried to lean away from him, only to bump into Roman, who was on the other side.

"You look lost." Roman commented.

"I'm fine." Stormie said stiffly, lying through her teeth. "I'm just waiting for AJ, she's giving me a ride to Cincinnati."

"Oh I see." Seth said, nodding, a smile slowly began to grow on his face. "You might be waiting here for a while, because we saw AJ leaving the hotel with Kaitlyn over an hour ago."

"So why did you stay?" Stormie asked, not bother to mention the fact that they called her bluff.

"Because we know you need a ride, and we wanted to find out how your dad was doing..." Chelsey answered, peaking out from behind Dean's back where she was hiding.

Roman casually picked up Stormie's suitcase by the handle, she scrambled to her feet, intending to take it from him but Seth's warm hand caught her wrist in a gentle but firm grasp, leaving her unable to do anything but watch him stuff her suitcase and carry on in the back of his Tahoe.

"We also know that everyone else is gone." Dean smirked, pulling the bill of her hat down to cover her eyes as he followed Roman to the Tahoe. Stormie pulled the hat up violently and glared at him, he chuckled as he stood by the hood of the car and lit up a cigarette.

"We're not holding you at gun point." Seth remarked, "We're just offering you a ride to the arena."

She bit her bottom lip and sighed, knowing that in all honesty, she didn't really have much of choice. Warily, she climbed into the backseat behind the drivers seat that Roman occupied, Chelsey claimed shotgun, Seth sat next to Stormie in the back and that left an unhappy Dean in the very back.

The drive from Cleveland to Cincinnati took almost four hours, and for the most part, everything went smoothly. They arrived at the arena a few minutes before they were scheduled too, as soon as the Tahoe was parked, Stormie found herself climbing out and rushing into the arena before any member of The Shield had even gotten out of the car. She went straight to the Divas locker room and found AJ sitting on the bench.

"I got your text." AJ said, pulling her knee pads into place. "I'm sorry we couldn't turn back and get you, but we were already too far ahead."

Stormie sat down on the bench next to her and shook her head. "That's okay, don't even worry about it."

"How did you get here?" She asked curiously.

"Just hitched a ride." Stormie shrugged, and thankfully AJ didn't continue to ask questions, she changed the topic. "Did you see the match card tonight? You're valeting for me in my match against Naomi and then I'm valeting for you in your match against Cameron."

Well, it gave her more time to prepare than her debut match against Chelsey. Stormie immediately went to the locker marked as hers and cursed when she realized that she left her ring gear in her carry on in the back of Roman's Tahoe.

AJ raised her perfectly arched eyebrow at her language. "Calm yourself, pixie." She teased, realizing that Stormie didn't have her ring gear with her. "You can borrow something of mine." That was one of the perks of being friends with AJ, she and Stormie were about the same size. She would valet for AJ in her street clothes and AJ would help her pick something out later. She left AJ to finish getting ready in the locker room and promised to meet her in the Gorilla position in five minutes.

Stormie was on her way to get something to drink from catering when she turned a corner and smacked right into Dean, his eyes narrowed in a glare and he looked about ready to shout at whoever ran into him until he realized it was Stormie.

"And here I thought you couldn't wait to get away from us." He smirked. Stormie stared up at him for a few seconds before she took the Cincinnati Reds hat off his head.

"I'm borrowing this." She told him and ran back to the locker room to put her Blue Jays hat back before she went to the Gorilla position without going to catering.

"I want that back!" Dean shouted down the hall as Stormie skipped around a corner and out of his sight.

"Who did you get that from?" AJ asked upon seeing the Reds baseball hat that Stormie was wearing. "No one important." Stormie answered vaguely.


	6. Chapter 6

AJ finished her stretches and warm ups while waiting for Naomi and Cameron to finish their entrance. When AJ's entrance music played, she and Stormie linked arms and skipped down to the ring as Lilian Garcia introduced them.

"Being accompanied to the ring by Stormie Rhodes, from Union City, New Jersey, she is the WWE Diva's Champion, AJ Lee!"

The entire match lasted about three minutes and they returned backstage after Naomi tapped out to AJ's Black Widow submission hold. She could have texted Chelsey or Dean, asking one of them to meet her at the Tahoe, but she didn't have much time, so she went back to the locker room with AJ and changed into a pair of jean shorts and a belt, keeping her Converse and her Captain America T-shirt along with Dean's Cincinnati Red hat.

Despite being a member of the main roster for almost a month, Stormie still didn't have her own entrance, so she skipped down to the ring using AJ's entrance song after the Funkadactyls made their own entrance.

"And her opponent, being accompanied to the ring by the Diva's Champion AJ Lee, from Marietta, Georgia, Stormie Rhodes!"

Naomi stood by Cameron's side of the ring, and AJ folded her arms across the canvas and watched from Stormie's side. The bell rang and for a few seconds, they circled each other before beginning the match with a collar and elbow tie up. Stormie tried to keep her footing, but eventually Cameron backed her into the ropes and the referee forced her to break the hold.

She did, but before Stormie had any time to react, she was Irish whipped into the ropes on the other side of the ring, Cameron's dropkick would have connected if Stormie didn't have enough sense to hold onto the ropes instead of bouncing off of them. Naomi winced at the thud Cameron made as her back hit the canvas, and Stormie immediately went in for what she knew was a quick cover, but it gave her more time to think of her next move.

Cameron kicked out at one, and Stormie was immediately on her feet, pulling Cameron to her feet as well before she Irish whipped her into the ropes, jumping to avoid colliding with her, and when she came back around the second time, Stormie hit her with a wheelbarrow bulldog. Rather then going for a pin, she grabbed Cameron's ankle and pulled her to the middle of the ring before locking in an ankle lock and wrapped her legs around Cameron's leg, preventing her from moving.

It took about five seconds for Cameron to tap and another three seconds before AJ's music played and she got into the ring. Stormie released Cameron the second the bell rang and Lilian Garcia announced her as the winner. She allowed the referee and AJ to take her wrists and hold her hands up in the air, signifying her victory while Naomi helped Cameron out of the ring.

While AJ was showering, Stormie stripped out of the borrowed clothes and left them by AJ's gym bag, leaving her a note, explaining her thanks for letting her borrow the clothes and letting her know that it was okay to leave, because Stormie had a ride. She waited around the arena for about an hour before she finally worked up the courage to walk to the lion's den and knock on their door. A deep voice told her to hold on, and a few seconds later, Roman stood before her.

"You'd look great with a Tony Stark beard." Stormie commented quite randomly. Roman blinked at her and then chuckled as he stepped aside and held the door open for her. Seth was sitting on the bench with his head in his hands, Dean was pacing the floor and Chelsey was watching him.

All four members of The Shield were still dressed in their ring gear, and they stared at Stormie as she held the Reds hat out to Dean. "I came to return your hat."

He stared at it with a raised eyebrow but didn't take it. "Are you sure that's the only reason you came here?" He asked knowingly.

"No." Stormie confessed, walking farther into the room. "I left my luggage in your car, and I was also kind of hoping you'd give me a ride."

Seth smiled as he began unbuckling his tactical vest. "Sure, you can come with us." Stormie's cheeks and ears burned and she immediately clapped her hands over her eyes in embarrassment, the sound of his tactical vest hitting the floor made her blush darken until she was sure she was a new shade of pink.

"Aww, are you shy?" Seth chuckled. "You're a professional wrestler, you see half-naked men all the time."

"That's different!" Stormie stressed, "I've never _seen_ a boy getting undressed."

It was Dean who 'aww'ed' next. "She's a virgin." He said in a teasing voice, Stormie gasped in obvious embarrassment and chucked the hat in his general direction, not making contact, but smiling when a smacking sound echoed in the room and Chelsey said firmly, "Don't be such a dick, Ambrose." It effectively shut Dean up.

She kept her eyes covered for about ten minutes, listening to the sound of clothing hitting the floor and bags being opened before a pair of warm hands gently removed her hands from her eyes.

"We're done." Seth said, "You can look now."

Her eyes quickly scanned the room, all four members of The Shield were dressed in their street clothes and carried their gym bags over their shoulders.

"Ready to go, Sunshine?" Dean asked, smirking as he took Chelsey's hand and her gym bag and passed Stormie as they began walking down the deserted hallway. Roman followed them and Seth held the door open for Stormie.

They didn't meet anyone else as they made their way to the parking lot. Dean took the keys from Roman and unlocked all the doors, the boys put all the luggage in the trunk while Chelsey got into the passengers seat and Stormie climbed into the back. Chelsey turned around in her seat and looked back at Stormie almost fearfully. "Do you hate us?"

At that moment, every pair of eyes turned to Stormie, and her own eyes dropped down to her lap. She wasn't quite sure how to respond. She sighed heavily and scrubbed her hand over her face.

"No, I don't hate you. I don't even want to think about it anymore, can we just drop the subject, please?"

And the subject was indeed dropped. Because Cincinnati was Dean's home, it only made sense for him to be driving around. It was only ten o'clock at night, and nobody ate at the arena, so Dean drove them all to a small pub called Flynn's. It was a seedy little place in what looked like a bad neighborhood, but Dean swore they had the best cheeseburgers in the world. Both Stormie and Chelsey grimaced at their surroundings and tried to ignore the dirty looks half the waitresses in the pub were sending their way.

When their food was ready and everyone was back in the car, Dean began driving again for about ten more minutes before he pulled into an underground parking garage.

"I thought we were going to a hotel..." Stormie said nervously.

"Nah, we're staying at my place tonight." Dean said smirking.

Stormie reluctantly left the Tahoe and followed The Shield up to Dean's decently sized two bedroom apartment that was a little bit bigger than Stormie's apartment in Tampa. They ate their dinner in the living room because Dean didn't have a kitchen table. Stormie watched with mild amusement as Dean scarfed down a bacon cheeseburger dripping with grease and Chelsey wrinkled her nose and refused to take a bite out of it when he offered. He swallowed the food in his mouth and stood up from the couch.

"I'm gonna get a beer." He announced, walking out of the room. "Come help me, princess!" Chelsey blushed at the nickname and followed him into the kitchen. They returned two minutes later with five bottles of beer.

"Can you just wait until you finish your first one?" Stormie asked as Dean set down a bottle in front of Seth and Roman and popped the cap of his own bottle and took a generous swig.

"That's yours." Dean answered as Chelsey set down a bottle of beer on the coffee table in front of Stormie.

"I can't drink that!" Stormie said, looking somewhat startled. "I'm underage!"

"Aww, are you gonna tell on us, Sunshine?" Dean asked mockingly, downing his beer in four long gulps

She looked around at her present company a little bit nervously, biting her bottom lip, she grabbed the bottle and popped the cap off using the edge of Dean's coffee table and chugged the beer back, ignoring the taste it left in her mouth. She put the bottle back on the coffee table gingerly.

One beer turned into two, and two turned into four followed by several tequila shots that had Stormie sitting on the floor with her head tucked between her knees because she was slipping off the couch.

Chelsey turned on the small radio in Dean's kitchen window and turned it up loud, not carrying that it was just after midnight and his neighbors were most likely sleeping. Stormie perked up instantly when she heard the familiar song. It wasn't a song that she particularly loved, but she did know the lyrics to it, and when she knew the lyrics to a song, she had to sing it, no matter where she was.

"Baby you light up my world like nobody else, the way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed, but when you smile at the ground, it ain't hard to tell, you don't know, oh oh, you don't know you're beautiful."

Roman looked surprised and Seth smiled and turned the volume up a little louder. Dean was the only one who looked annoyed, but the annoyance quickly diminished when Chelsey joined in.

"If only you saw what I can see, you'll understand why I want you so desperately, right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe, you don't know, oh oh, you don't know you're beautiful, oh oh, that's what makes you beautiful."

A silence fell through the apartment when they finished the song and looked at the boys expectantly.

"A for effort." Dean awarded.

Stormie grinned proudly and took Chelsey's hand when she offered it, pulling her up and standing on the solidly built coffee table to dance, it started off very innocent, just two friends having fun, singing along to the lyrics of "Timber", before the song changed to "Do What You Want" and Chelsey's demeanor changed as well.

The girls weren't paying Seth or Dean (Roman went to use the bathroom a few minutes earlier) any attention, though they were both vaguely aware that the boys were staring at them with their mouths hanging open. They moved together as a single being, one of Chelsey's hands was resting on the exposed flesh of Stormie's thigh, the other wrapped around her neck. Stormie's cheeks were pink, she wasn't sure if it was because of the alcohol or the situation she found herself in; perhaps it was a mixture of both.

Chelsey seemed to know exactly what she was doing, she was surprised when Chelsey cradled her face in her hands and kissed her, but she was even more surprised when she found herself enjoying it. Chelsey's teeth began tugging gently at Stormie's bottom lip, asking for entrance that Stormie granted after a few seconds of hesitation. Her lips were soft, and she moaned as Chelsey's tongue began exploring every inch of her mouth, the taste of beer and tequila was very subtle.

They pulled away upon hearing Dean wolf-whistling. Chelsey grinned and Stormie felt her cheeks and ears burn but she grinned too.

"Damn, princess, you need to kiss girls more often." Dean stood up from the couch, a rapidly growing bulge very noticeable in his jeans, and he tossed Chelsey over his shoulder like a caveman, "I have a little problem now, thanks to you, so you're gonna fix it for me."

Seth and Stormie watched them disappear down the hall and heard Dean's bedroom door shut and lock. She glanced pointedly down at Seth's own jeans and grinned wickedly when she noticed that they were considerably tighter. Seth let out a hiss of pleasure when Stormie boldly grabbed him through the confines of his jeans and asked with a sweet voice that did not match her actions, "Would you like me to fix this?"

He tried to have a mental debate about whether he should stop her or not. He wondered several questions, but the most important one was, _has she done this before?_ Even though he knew her mind was clouded with the amount of beer she consumed, his own attraction for her won the debate and he bucked his hips into her touch, "Please..."

Grinning, Stormie settled herself in his lap, moaning at the feeling of the heavy denim of his jeans rubbing against her slightly damp panties. She initiated the first kiss and immediately parted her lips for him when he took her bottom lip between his teeth and gently tugged on it. Their tongues wrestled (for lack of better words!) for dominance inside her mouth, her actions were half-hearted and eventually she submitted and allowed his tongue to roam around freely inside her mouth.

She giggled at the feeling of his facial hair scratching against her face, finding that she liked it a lot. Bo's face was always clean shaven, and his lips were nowhere near as soft as Chelsey's were. The thought of Bo made her freeze in Seth's lap, she didn't even notice that he removed her shirt until she felt his lips on her neck and move down to her collarbone.

She hadn't realized she was cheating on Bo until she compared his kisses to Seth's, and even Chelsey's. She cheated on him twice in one night, her heart sank into her stomach and she could feel guilty tears welling up in her eyes,_ I'm a terrible person...!_

But no, the more she thought about it, no, she wasn't a terrible person. At least, she wasn't the only terrible person in their relationship, if you really wanted to call it that after almost a month of Bo not returning her text messages or phone calls, unless he had something rude or standoffish to say.

A wave of anger washed through her, not directed at Seth, who was currently making goosebumps raise on her flesh as he grazed his fingers over the soft curves of her stomach, and not at Chelsey either, but at Bo himself, for being a complete and utter douchenozzle, especially after the incident with her father.

Bo was her boyfriend, and yet Seth, one fourth of the stable that almost attacked her father, was being more supportive and comforting than him. It might've been the alcohol in her system that made her first kiss Seth, but it was the anger at Bo that made her continue on with it, reaching for the hem of Seth's T-shirt and pulling it over his head, tossing it behind her shoulder, not carrying where it landed.

Seth pressed a hand to Stormie's back to push her closer to him so their chests touched, his fingers dancing around the clasp of her bra but not unhooking it. It made her heart beat faster, she couldn't help but think about how Bo hadn't even gotten this far.

Seth could see the nervousness in her eyes,there was a little voice in his head that was telling him to take things slowly, to not scare her away, but he ignored them and hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties. He regretted that action very much when Stormie pulled away from the kiss and nearly fell off his lap in her haste to get away from him. She pulled her T-shirt over her head just as Roman returned from the bathroom.

"What did I miss?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as he took in the sight of a half-naked Seth on the couch and a flustered looking Stormie drag her suitcases out of the apartment.

"What happened?" Roman asked curiously.

Seth knew that something was wrong between her and Bo from the way she'd been acting lately, Bo didn't deserve to be with someone as beautiful and kind-hearted as Stormie. He knew in his heart that he was better for her, and he tried to prove that, but had ultimately failed. He cursed himself for not stopping when she froze. Rather than invite her into his arms, Seth might as well have sent her running straight back to Bo with cab fare.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed heavily, not even bothering to look at Roman when he answered, "I messed up, majorly."


	7. Chapter 7

Insomnia was one of the things he lived with as a WWE Superstar due to traveling, it was not something he particularly enjoyed, but he was used to it after so many years. So it was natural that he growled in annoyance as his girlfriend's cell phone began ringing and woke him up from the little, precious sleep he got each night.

He opened his eyes and peered over her shoulder at the alarm clock on the bedside table as she slid her thumb across her phone's screen answered the call. "Two thirty? Are you kidding me?" He grumbled.

"Shush!" His girlfriend told him, sitting up in bed and turning on the lamp. She held the phone closer to her ear and said in a slightly confused voice, "Stormie, is that you?"

"AJ!" Stormie cried through the phone, the rest of her sentence was too incoherent and quiet for anyone besides AJ to hear. She tried to understand her, but eventually just said soothingly, "Stay where you are sweetie, Phil and I are coming to get you okay? I want you to stay on the phone with me until we get there."

"You stay here." Phil sighed, pushing the blankets away from his body, swinging his legs to the side of the bed, before reaching down to pick his jeans up off the floor. "Stay on the phone with her, and I'll go pick her up."

AJ told him where she was and stayed on the phone with her until Stormie saw Phil pull up next to the parking bench she was sitting on half an hour later. Phil parked the car on the curbside and got out, as soon as he was three feet away, Stormie threw her arms around his neck and clung tightly to him, her eyes were full of tears and her breath reeked of beer and tequila, but Phil knew this was not the time or the place to be scolding her.

He made her sit in the passengers seat of the car and loaded her luggage in the trunk before he drove back to the hotel. AJ looked as though she wanted to ask questions when Stormie came stumbling over the threshold of their hotel room, but the smell of beer and tequila on her breath was enough to make her take a step back.

She searched through Stormie's suitcase before her change into a pair of shorts and a tank top and tucked her into the make-shift bed on the sofa. Phil was extremely unhappy, not only because Stormie had been drinking, but she had been drinking underage. But they wouldn't confront her about it in her current state.

"Tomorrow." Phil said, and AJ nodded in agreement before they turned off the lights and tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

"Why won't the light just shut up?" Stormie moaned, her body trembling as she clung to the toilet bowl after emptying the contents of her stomach, her forehead resting against the cool porcelain. "I swear, I'm never going to drink again..."

"Good." Phil said reproachfully from his perch on the edge of the bathtub while AJ stood in front of the mirror, applying her makeup for the day. "Are you going to tell us why you were drinking underage? Or who gave you the booze? Keep in mind that I had to go out at two in the morning to pick you up."

Stormie winced, both at his words and the wave of nausea that washed over her. AJ capped her eyeliner and placed her hand on Phil's shoulder.

"Just let it go." She told him gently, seeing how distressed Stormie was. "She'll tell us when and if she wants too." There was a look in Phil's eyes that told her he didn't want to let it go, but he nodded and left the bathroom, only to get Stormie's suitcases and shut the door.

Stormie took a quick shower and changed into a pair of black sweatpants with white elastics around the ankles and the word "geek" running up the side of the legs, a white camisole and a white and black striped zip up hoodie, throwing her wet hair into a messy bun and pulling the hood up over her head. She accepted the bottle of water and the two extra strength Tylenol that AJ handed her and swallowed them down immediately before throwing her dirty clothes in her suitcase and followed Phil and AJ down to the hotel lobby, where they met up with Kaitlyn.

Stormie pulled out her cell phone and began texting Bray while Phil, AJ and Kaitlyn checked out of their hotel rooms. When she received a reply, she tugged on AJ's sleeve to get her attention and told her her plans.

For the rest of the week, Stormie traveled with Bray, Harper and Rowan, and thankfully they never had no questions to ask her. In fact, for the most part, everything was silent if she and Bray weren't talking, which, after he asked some questions about Bo that she didn't answer, they eventually stopped. When she woke up on Wednesday morning, she had hoped that everything that happened the night before was a dream, but of course it wasn't.

Apparently luck wasn't on her side. She remembered everything that happened that night very clearly. She hadn't spoken to Seth at all that week, and she only replied back to Chelsey's various text messages once, telling her that she was okay and she just wanted to be left alone for a while. Chelsey stopped texting her after that.

Bray watched Stormie from the corner of his eye as they both sat in the back seat of their rental jeep. Knowing her for all eighteen years of her life meant that Bray knew when she was upset, but being a big-brother figure to her also meant that he never pried into her personal life. So instead of out-right asking her what was wrong, he assumed he knew the reason and pulled out his cell phone, creating a new text message and pressed send when he finished typing.

They arrived at the Allstate Arena in Chicago and almost immediately parted ways, it appeared to Stormie that teams with more than two men got their own private locker room, but somehow, she doubted 3MB had such a luxury. She learned her lesson about leaving her suitcase in other people's cars, so she dragged it and her carry on behind her as she made her way to the Divas locker room.

"Stormie, hi." Stormie turned around upon hearing her name being called and found Chelsey standing two feet behind her. Even though it had only been less than a week since Stormie last saw her, she seemed like she changed in that short time. Her hair was down and curly, mixing cutely with the sundress and jean jacket she wore with her well worn low top Converse.

She was fidgeting, toying with the sleeve of her jean jacket that covered her hands, and Stormie realized after a few seconds that she probably wanted to reach out and hug her, a common greeting between the two, but after Stormie told her she wanted to be left alone, she wasn't sure if she should.

Stormie left her suitcases and closed the distance between them, giving Chelsey the hug she knew she was looking for. It didn't feel strange to hug Chelsey like Stormie thought it would, considering she made out with her less than a week ago. That thought made her heart swell up with guilt and she immediately pulled away from the hug. Chelsey didn't seem to notice.

"Why don't you come with me to the Shield's locker room?" Chelsey asked, and Stormie wanted to protest, but she knew she would probably have to face them, more specifically Seth, eventually. She allowed Chelsey to carry her carry on and Stormie followed behind her, dragging her suitcase until Chelsey stopped outside The Shield's locker room.

She opened the door and stepped inside, beckoning Stormie to follow her. She did so reluctantly, and the three other members that made up The Shield were inside. Without even waiting for the door to shut behind Stormie, Chelsey quickly pulled off her jean jacket and lowered the straps of her sundress, letting it fall to the floor.

She changed into her Shield gear in record time and was just pulling her hair out of the braid when she noticed the curious look Stormie was giving her. She obviously didn't care about being half-naked in front of her teammates as well as her boyfriend and best friend.

"Roman, Seth, Dean and I are needed soon, but I wanted to catch you first. We'll be back in like fifteen minutes, so just wait here for us, please." She pulled on her wrestling boots and sent Stormie a quick, hopeful smile as she sat down to tie them.

Stormie nodded and glanced at Seth, biting her bottom lip. "I really need to talk with you, Seth." She said.

He blinked at the sound of her voice before a smile began growing on his face. "I thought you were avoiding us..." Roman left the room, taking Dean and Chelsey with him, the latter shooting a nervous look over her shoulder before the door shut and Stormie and Seth were left alone.

"I'm not avoiding you..." She quickly denied, and she knew instantly that he didn't believe her, but he accepted it.

"What's up?" He asked. "Are you okay?"

Stormie thought about everything that had happened to her since she'd been not only traveling with the main roster, but becoming a member of the main roster herself and she couldn't stop her eyes from welling up with tears that had been building up for weeks now.

"No." She sniffled, sitting down on the bench in the middle of the locker room. Seth was sitting next to her in the blink of an eye, rubbing circles on her back and brushing her hair away from her face.

"I'm a terrible person!" She confessed, and he looked startled when he suddenly found himself with an armful of Stormie, her face buried in his tight black Under Armor and tactical vest, crying her eyes out and mumbling her words.

He could barely understand her, but he didn't get a chance to ask her to what she was saying because Roman came back. He looked uncomfortable seeing Stormie crying and hated to interrupt them but he had no choice. "We have five minutes to get down to the ring, Seth, let's go."

She wiped the tears from her eyes as she watched Seth reluctantly follow Roman out of the room, stopping in the doorway to tell Stormie that they would continue their discussion later, before he left and she grabbed the remote control from the table where the television was and turned it on.

She switched through the channels until she saw Triple H and Stephanie in the ring, Dean, Chelsey, Roman and Seth stood between the ring and the ramp, acting as a private army for The Authority.

Stormie honestly couldn't understand why they stood by The Authority when they were making the lives of nearly every Superstar and Diva on the main roster a living hell. As Raw cut to a commercial break, she briefly wondered if they would change their minds now that The Authority threw The Shield (minus Chelsey) to the wolves when they put them in an 11 on 3 handicap elimination match against Justin Gabriel, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam, The Usos, The Prime Time Players and Daniel Bryan.

Seth, Roman and Dean all looked confused, Chelsey's face was blank.

Just as Raw came back from the commercial break, The Shield threw the locker room door opened and stomped inside.

"Eleven on three!" Dean cursed loudly, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" He unfastened the United States Championship from around his waist and threw it on the ground like it was worthless before plopping down on the bench. Roman and Seth sat around him and they began talking strategies.

They made quick plans for Zack Ryder, Justin Gabriel, R-Truth, and the Prime Time Players, but the remaining six Superstars needed more careful planning. Chelsey had been extremely quiet since they returned from ring, she allowed Stormie to pulled her hair into a side fishtail braid without any complaint, but soon her body became stiff on the couch next to Stormie.

"Sweet pea, you okay?" Stormie asked, causing Seth, Roman and Dean to stop talking and stare at her. Stormie was the first to notice how her hands were shaking slightly, she only became aware that Chelsey's legs were shaking when the entire couch began to shake as well.

Dean was off the bench at once and crossed the room in two short strides, physically picking Stormie up and depositing her on the arm of the sofa as he sat where she previously sat and pulled Chelsey onto his lap. One of his hands began rubbing circles on her back, and Stormie was instantly reminded of how Seth did that to her not even half an hour ago.

She avoided looking at him and kept her gaze on Chelsey, watching as Dean whispered into her ear. "We're going to be fine, princess. You need to believe in us." He moved his hands from her back to her bare legs and he began rubbing them gently until, slowly but surely, the shaking stopped and she buried her face in his neck.

"I'm okay." She muttered, slowly coming out of hiding.

"Good." Dean pressed a kiss to her temple and held her close. "I don't want you at ringside tonight. I want you to stay back here with Stormie where it's safe." Chelsey nodded and gave Dean another kiss before he, Roman and Seth went to make their entrance through the crowd.

It was probably for the best, Stormie decided as she and Chelsey settled on the couch side by side to continue watching Raw before the main event. If Chelsey had an anxiety attack just thinking about the match, how would she be out at ringside to watch the match take place in person?

She still seemed nervous as they appeared on the screen in a backstage promo, but Dean's confident words made her smile and Stormie couldn't help but smile too, knowing that, even though she was a little iffy about him when Chelsey first introduced them, she knew he was really good for her; the pet name "princess" wasn't just something cute that he liked to call her, it was the exact same way he treated her.

They watched in near silence as Daniel Bryan came down to the ring. Stormie smiled at the sight of her trainer as he talked about how he was stripped of his WWE Championship because the referee at Night of Champions used a fast count and he promised to win back his championship at Battleground in two weeks. As he was leading the WWE Universe in a "Yes!" chant, the familiar_ "Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta, Shield"_ interrupted him.

Chelsey's hand sought out Stormie's as Dean and Seth made their way down to the ring from one flight of stairs while Roman went down by himself on the other side. Less than three seconds after Seth and Dean hopped the barricade, they were jumped by two people that nobody seemed to recognize until the one wearing a black pop over turned his head slightly towards the cameras and revealed the black and gold paint on his face.

The grip Chelsey had on Stormie's hand immediately tightened as they watched Seth, Roman and Dean try to collect themselves as Cody and Dustin were manhandled by security and escorted out of the ring side area. Raw came back from a commercial break and the match got underway beginning with Seth and Jimmy Uso as the legal men.

Chelsey was completely absorbed in the match, staying silent nearly the entire time, only making outbursts of emotions and noise when a member of The Shield eliminated a member of the other team. Unwillingly, Stormie was barely focused on the match at all, she feared what Chelsey or Seth or Dean or Roman would say when they got back to the locker room about her brother's attack and she also feared her future conversation with Seth when he returned.

Those thoughts were pushed to the back of her mind when Roman was eliminated, followed by Dean and Seth was left the last man standing in The Shield. Chelsey's anxiety was starting to build as Daniel hit Seth with a running high knee and pinned him for the win, but quickly diminished when Dean, Seth and Roman made their way back to the locker room after Raw ended.

Stormie was very surprised that they mentioned nothing about her brothers jumping them before their match and instead, began packing up their gym bags, opting to shower when they got back to their hotel room.

"I'm back, so let's talk." Seth said, sitting down on the sofa. Roman nodded at Dean, who took Chelsey by the hand and told Seth and Stormie that he, Chelsey and Roman would meet them in the parking garage by Roman's Tahoe, before once again leaving them alone.

"Why do you think you're a terrible person?" Seth asked.

She looked down at her shoes as she mumbled about how she felt like she was a terrible person for cheating on Bo, not just once with Chelsey, but with Seth as well. Stormie pulled her iPhone out of her pocket and showed him her text conversation with Bo, being sure to explain that he was always ignoring her text messages and phone calls.

As much as her mind was trying to remind her that Bo had been treating her indifferently, her mind couldn't seem to wrap around the idea that she cheated on him, not once, but twice.

Seth was mostly assuming that something was wrong between Stormie and Bo before, but the text messages he read just proved that he was right, he felt himself grow angry as he read the last message in the conversation that from Bo and he cut Stormie off in mid-sentence.

"Where were you when you sent this message?" Seth asked, showing Stormie the screen. She peered down at the screen making what Seth thought was the most adorable face ever, with her eyes narrowed and her nose scrunched up like a bunny.

"Umm, I sent that at the hospital." She nodded as she wiped away her tears, confirming her words.

"Sweetheart, you have absolutely no reason to feel guilty," Seth began, "He's being a real jackass to you. It sounds to me like he's jealous that you're on the main roster and he's not, when he should be happy for you, and supporting you."

"You're not a terrible person, you're a beautiful girl, Stormie." Seth added, "He doesn't deserve you." He leaned in closer, Stormie could feel his warm breath on her lips and the scruffy rough feeling of his beard against her skin.

She quickly pulled away from him before their lips met when she heard the sound of tweeting birds coming from her iPhone. She quickly took it back from Seth and unlocked the screen.

**'I'm sorry I haven't been answering your texts or phone calls, I've been so busy down in developmental and I know you've been busy on the main roster. I didn't want to distract you, but I know now that I should've been in touch more. Next time you have a day off, I want you to stay with me at my house. I love you, babe.'**

Bo's text message made her feel ten times worse, she thought of the way she cheated on him twice and how she was going to once again if he didn't send that text just in time. Bo was her first boyfriend and he had been a friend of hers for as long as she could remember. She desperately wanted to believe that he really was busy down in developmental, so she did.

"Stormie?" Seth asked in a whisper, reaching forward to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, frowning when she flinched away.

"I can't do this to him. Not again." She wiped away the tears that clung to her eyelashes. "Just stop it, please! Can we just pretend that this never happened? Can't we just be friends?"

Seth sighed heavily. "I don't want to pretend it never happened, because I don't regret it. I don't care if you were drunk that night, maybe that was the reason it happened at first, but I know you wouldn't have let things get that far if you didn't want them too. I'm only going to pretend that nothing happened between us because you asked me too."

"Thank you, Seth." Stormie sighed, standing up and walking towards the door. She gasped when Seth's hand caught her wrist and pulled her back against his chest, his eyes locked with hers.

"But just so you know, you'll always have me right where you want me. However you want me. I'll always be there for you, whatever you need, even if it's just as a friend for now. I'll always be waiting until the inevitable day that Bo screws up again."

A small smirk grew on his face, Stormie gasped again when he brought their faces as close together as he dared, his lips just a hair's length away from touching hers, "And I'll be right there to sweep you off your feet. Believe that."


	8. Chapter 8

**I received a PM from a reader about the recent events of Raw, and thought it called for an authors note to let all my readers know that I am **_not_** stopping this story because of what Seth did. I was always a fan of his and I always will be. I'm positive that he has a plan!**

* * *

Three weeks had passed since Triple H and Stephanie McMahon first gained interest in Stormie Rhodes. They kept their interest even after she failed to win her debut match and since that day, they had hired a private investigator to dig into the Rhodes family's past to find out more about her. When they received no response after the first two weeks, they considered stopping the search and just sending her back to developmental, but something made Triple H hold off, and as he sat in his black leather office chair behind his desk holding a piece of paper from a manila envelope, he was extremely glad he didn't act so rashly.

"I got your text." Stephanie said as she entered the room and shut the door firmly behind her, glancing at her husband behind the desk. "What's so important?"

Not responding with words, Triple H beckoned his wife over and handed her the paper when she stood beside him. Her eyes scanned the document and a smile began to grow on her face.

"That's perfect..." She whispered. "It's just the ammunition we need to steer her away from them and bring her over to our side." She handed him the paper back to him and smirked. "Text them, tell them to show up on Raw for a Rhodes Family Summit."

Triple H pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began making three text messages all containing the same information. He pressed send and kicked his feet up on the desk. All of their plans seemed to be falling into place.

* * *

Chelsey once told her that there were no secrets among The Shield when they were both still in developmental, but Stormie personally felt that some things needed to be kept a secret. Her cheating on Bo with Seth and Chelsey was one of them. The member of the Shield already knew what went down between Stormie and Chelsey, as they were there to witness it. Stormie hadn't told any of them what happened between herself and Seth, but there was no doubt in her mind that they knew. Thankfully nobody mentioned it, to her, at least.

Staying true to his word, Seth pretended like nothing happened between the two of them, but it didn't make Stormie feel any better about it. She still felt guilty and that guilt only increased tenfold now that Bo had been texting her constantly this past week. Stormie had gone back to traveling with The Shield in Roman's Tahoe and spending nights in their hotel rooms.

They arrived in Biloxi, Mississippi around two o'clock in the morning and checked into a hotel room. It was nine-thirty when the sound of tweeting birds woke Stormie up. It was Bo again, sending her a good morning text message. Stormie didn't bother to reply as she put her phone back on the bedside table and let herself fall back face first into the pillow underneath her head.

The bed shifted beside her and she opened a single brown eye, seeing Roman sitting up beside her, rubbing a hand over the scruff that settled on his face during the night. There was no point in going back to bed now. Once Roman was up, everyone knew that the time to sleep in had passed. When she first began traveling with The Shield again, she made it perfectly clear that she wouldn't sleep in the same bed as Seth, which is how she ended up sharing a bed with Roman.

As she watched him trudge slowly across the room to make a pot of coffee, she wondered when she began to trust them all wholeheartedly.

With Cody and Dustin not around, Stormie began to see Roman as a big brother figure. He was brutally honest but he was also extraordinarily kind, during her last week of traveling with them she also trained with them a few times and Roman helped her perfect the spear, critiquing her brutally, praising her when she finally did it up to his standard, even though it killed her shoulder.

Chelsey had been amazing, like always. It was sometimes scary to see how much they had in common, Stormie once jokingly told her they might have been separated at birth. Dean was like the best boy friend she'd ever had, which wasn't saying much because she hardly had _any _friends growing up, male _or_ female.

Tweeting birds alerted Stormie of another text message, but this one wasn't from Bo. It was from Cody.

**'Did you here that The Authority is holding a Summit for the Rhodes Family tonight on Raw? You should wear a dress or a nice skirt.'**

Being in the same ring as The Authority was not something that she was looking forward to, but if the summit was for the Rhodes Family, Stormie had no choice but to go. She replied to his text message by saying that she had packed no fancy dresses or skirts in general and in all honesty, she didn't want to have to go shopping for one.

"I'll kill that bird if it doesn't shut up." Dean mumbled from the other bed when Stormie received a reply from Cody, his arm was wrapped tightly around Chelsey's waist, his blonde curls tousled and sticking up every which way. Stormie smiled slightly as she lowered the volume on her phone until it was on vibrate before she read the message.

**'You and Brandi are almost the same size, she said you could borrow one of hers at the arena tonight. Just bring all your suitcases with you and she'll help you out.'**

Stormie sent back a simple, **'Okay'** and locked her screen, putting the phone back on the bedside table when Roman returned with a mug of coffee and burrowed himself under the blankets again, wincing away when Stormie's freezing cold feet pressed against his calves.

"Who texted you at this ungodly hour?" Chelsey asked, the top of her head barely noticeable over Dean's bulging bicep. Seth's two-toned head shot up from behind the top of the pull-out couch where he slept last night. "It was Bo and Cody." Stormie answered, pretending not to see the look of disappointment that made it's way onto Seth's face. He may have pretended that nothing happened between them, but he couldn't control his sad facial expression anytime Bo's name was mentioned and Stormie knew that the thought of her and him was on his mind constantly.

She would be lying if she said she hadn't run it over in her mind, but she was with Bo and she didn't want to complicate things more than they already had been.

"Apparently The Authority is holding a summit for my family and I need to be there." Stormie continued, pushing the blankets away from herself. Roman didn't seem to mind the missing warmth, he had his hands wrapped firmly around the porcelain mug, sipping coffee like it was Elixir of Life.

It took nearly two hours for everyone to get ready and another fifteen minutes to drive to the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, they went their separate ways when they reached catering, Dean, Chelsey, Roman and Seth going to their private locker room; Dean and Chelsey holding hands, Seth looking back at Stormie over his shoulder as Roman dragged him forward. Stormie walked around the arena until she found a door with a piece of paper marked **Rhodes Family** in bold letters.

She knocked on the door once and Brandi immediately pulled her into a hug when she opened the door. "I haven't seen you in so long!" Brandi said, pulling her into the room by her hand.

"I know, it's been forever." Stormie agreed, now hugging Cody. "I'm so sorry I missed your wedding." Brandi held out her left hand for Stormie to look at the beautiful ring that rested on her ring finger. "They wouldn't let me have any time off."

"That sounds like The Authority." Dustin said, rolling his eyes.

"Do any of you know what this summit is even about?" Stormie asked, sitting down on the couch between Dustin and her father, watching as Brandi sifted through her suitcase for a dress.

"Not exactly, but I think it mostly has to with Dustin and I, I'm not really sure why you and Dad have to be there." Cody said, although not in a mean way. Stormie could see that even though he was no longer employed by the WWE, he was still trying to protect her. Although she was growing fond of Roman, nobody could replace her big brothers.

Eventually Brandi pulled a turquoise hi-lo dress out of her suitcase and pushed it into Stormie's hands before she pushed her into the bathroom, telling her to try it on. Stormie dragged her suitcase into the bathroom with her and did as she was instructed. She stared at herself in the mirror, loving the sheer feeling of the fabric and the color that stood out against her olive skin.

"That's the one." Brandi decided immediately upon seeing Stormie walk out of the bathroom. "You don't even have to try anything else on." Stormie sat back down on the couch as she watched Brandi dig through her suitcases, handing her a pair of strappy silver opened toe high heels and a light brown braided belt to pair with the dress.

While Stormie and Brandi were looking for accessories, Cody, Dustin and Dusty all changed into their suits. They went with a pair of dangling silver crosses and two silver studs in the other holes before the time came around for the Rhodes family to go to the gorilla position. Brandi hugged them all before they left and called "Good luck!" to their retreating backs.

Stormie took Dustin's hand and held onto it tightly as their father's old music began to play and the four of them made their way to the ring. The cheering crowd was slightly encouraging, but Stormie couldn't help but think that something wasn't quite right. Cody held the bottom and middle rop open for Stormie to step through, Dusty's old music began to fade and Triple H brought the microphone up to his lips.

"Before we begin, I have a question to ask. Stormie," Her heart beat sped up when he addressed her, her sweaty hand instantly held onto Dustin's a little bit tighter.

"What are you doing down here?" The question caught her by surprise and Dustin's hand suddenly fell from hers when Triple H held out the microphone and she took it, replying back extremely confused. "You said the Rhodes family..."

"We know what we said," Stephanie interrupted, stepping forward. "But Stormie, sweetie." She lowered her voice a little, as though for a more dramatic effect_. "You're not apart of the Rhodes family." _She could feel her family immediately tense at her side, but she kept her focus on Triple H and Stephanie who stood across the ring smirking at her.

"Aww do you mean to tell me that you didn't know?" Stephanie asked in a babying sort of voice as Stormie stared at her in shock. "Didn't your Daddy ever tell you the story of how you were adopted when you were just a little bitty baby?"

"Why did you lie to her, Dusty?" Triple H inquired slightly mockingly. "You lied to her about her real family. I bet you didn't even tell her that she has a twin sister who is also in the WWE. Yes Stormie," He added, seeing Stormie's eyes widen. "You have a fraternal twin sister that you're Daddy never told you about. You even faced her in your debut match."

It took Stormie's fuzzy mind about a minute to remember who she fought against in her debut match. Dusty touched Stormie's arm and frowned when she flinched away from him. "Please tell me it's not true." She whispered, turning to face her so called family. All three Rhodes men looked shocked, horrified and angry. "Tell me he's lying."

When Dusty opened and closed his mouth like a fish, unable to produce words, Stormie closed her eyes to prevent her tears from alling and blindly tried to get out of the ring, shaking off any hands that touched her as she stepped through the bottom rope and jumped down from the apron, ignoring the searing pain that went up her ankle as she did so.

She could hear Dusty, Cody and Dustin calling out to her as she hobbled up the ramp, but Triple H stopped them from leaving. "Now, now, gentleman, we're here for a business proposition, this has nothing to do with Stormie."

When she managed to get backstage and collapse on a couch in one of the green rooms, just as Seth, Roman and Dean jumped Cody and Dustin in the ring. Chelsey wasn't with them, but Stormie didn't think she would be after hearing the bomb that Triple H just dropped.

She let the tears spill down her face, both from the pain in her ankle and the pain she felt in her heart. She was adopted. How could they have kept it a secret from her for eighteen years? Why didn't they tell her before Triple H announced it to the entire WWE Universe?

At first, Stormie was half-convinced that it wasn't true, but her mind quickly changed when she begged them to tell her that Triple H was lying, and they couldn't. That left no doubt in her mind. A sudden noise made her look up and she found Bray standing in front of her with Harper and Rowan flanking him. When he opened his arms, she didn't hesitate to go into them and let her sobs break free into his Hawaiian printed shirt.

She must have stayed that way for twenty minutes before the green room door opened and Triple H and Stephanie walked in. "We know that this is a lot to take in all at once, so we're giving you the rest of the week off. Go home and relax, Stormie. Because you aren't technically a member of the Rhodes family, you and your job are completely safe." Stephanie smiled as she latched onto Triple H's arm. "We'll talk to you more on Monday. Bray, Luke and Erick are going to escort you back home."

When Stormie didn't say anything in protest, The Authority left, leaving her with the Wyatt Family. Bray examined her ankle judging it to be only sprained before he scooped her up in his arms and carried her out to the parking garage while Harper and Rowan went to collect her suitcases from the Rhodes family's private locker room. She wasn't aware of anything around her, not even the pair of warm brown eyes that were glued to her back as the Wyatt family escorted her out of the arena.

Rather than driving almost nine hours back to Stormie's apartment in Tampa, Bray ordered her a single plane ticket and got her safely on the plane. When she landed, Bo was standing in the terminal waiting for her. Similar to Bray, when Bo opened his arms, Stormie went right into them. All the guilt she felt for cheating on him seemed to be washed away in the shock of the news.

Bo drove his huge white pickup truck and instead of going to Stormie's apartment, he drove them to his house in Brooksville, but not before stopping at a pharmacy to pick up a Tensor bandage, a heating pad, an ice pack and a bottle of extra strength Tylenol. He fished through the plastic bag for bottle of pills and handed her two, she swallowed them with whatever saliva was in her mouth.

It looked exactly the same since Stormie had last been here, but in her scattered mind, he could have changed the interior completely and she wouldn't have noticed. Bo made her a cup of her favorite earl grey tea just the way she liked it while she took a hot shower and changed into her Smurf pajamas.

Bo wrapped her ankle up in the Tensor bandage and propped her foot up on a pillow before applying the heating pad, smiling when she moaned in what appeared to be delight. They laid in the queen sized bed together, her head on his chest, his arms around her waist. "Do you want to talk about it?" Bo asked, but Stormie just shook her head. Right now, all she wanted to do was curl up into a neat little ball and sleep for a few days, maybe not even in that order.

Bo kissed her temple and rolled over to his other side, he was asleep in no time. The swelling in her ankle was slowly going down, it was nowhere near as sore as it used to be, but her heart still hurt. Stormie stayed up until almost five o'clock in the morning, soaking Bo's pillows with her tears.


	9. Chapter 9

The next few days were almost a blur with how fast they flew by. Stormie spent two days with Bo in his house, mostly staying indoors because her ankle still hurt whenever she put pressure on it, but the swelling had gone down significantly. That was part of the reason she didn't bother going to see her personal doctor, despite the amount of begging Bo did.

Instead, she sent a text message and a picture of her ankle to the WWE's company doctor, explaining that she hurt her ankle while jumping down from the ring apron in high heels. He responded to her text, advising her to stay off of it unless it was absolutely necessary, and that he would need to see her on Monday so he could take a look at it and hopefully clear her for competition.

For the most part, she laid in Bo's bed with her foot propped up on a pillow, watching all the action movies that he owned and eating the McDonald's that he brought her. Despite being the greasiest, most unhealthy thing in the world, it was her guilty pleasure, her comfort food and she must've had about six McDonald's cheeseburgers in the past week, never mind how many containers of French fries.

On Wednesday, Bo finally brought Stormie back to her own apartment so she could wash all her clothes and repack her luggage, because the next morning they began a road trip, driving all the way from Florida to Buffalo for Battleground on Sunday.

Stormie would rather have taken a flight on Saturday afternoon; she was always stuck in a car on the road, but Bo insisted on driving. Well, it wasn't going to be Stormie's fault when he had to drive almost twenty hours back to Florida with no one but the radio and his Starbucks coffee to keep him company. They stopped a hotel twice to sleep, one of Thursday night in North Carolina, and on Friday in Pennsylvania before they made it to Buffalo on Saturday night. Stormie limped her way up five flights of stairs, with her carry on in one hand and the handle of her Winnie the Pooh suitcase in the other. Upon reaching room 546, she waited impatiently for Bo to insert his keycard into the slot.

As soon as it flashed green, she turned the handle and walked inside, abandoning her luggage at the door in favor of falling face first onto the nearest bed, moaning when she took the pressure off her ankle.

"It's only nine thirty," Bo announced, closing the door behind him before he joined Stormie on the bed and crossed one of his legs to take off his shoe. "Why don't we go out and look around?"

Stormie removed her face from the silky red blanket and looked at him like he was insane. She just spent almost twenty hours in a car and walked up five flights of stairs with her arms full of luggage and a sprained ankle, and he expected her to go out shopping? When she voice her opinion, Bo frowned at her.

"I just thought it'd be nice to spend time together," He grumbled standing up from the bed to go into the bathroom, he continued to speak from inside, so it was harder to hear him, but Stormie heard his next words just fine. "I didn't_ make you_ take the stairs. I told you to take the elevator."

Stormie sat up in the bed, it was her turn to frown. "We_ have _been spending time together, for the past week. _Maybe_ if you would have listened to me and we took a flight to Buffalo, I would want to sit in a car with you, but _no_, you had to insist on driving twenty hours, because I don't get enough driving being on the main roster." She said sarcastically, before adding in a much more serious voice, "And you know why I didn't want to take the elevator."

Bo rolled his eyes. "It's a stupid fear, Stormie. You're eighteen years old, it's time to grow up." He grinned to himself when his words were met with silence, but his eyes widened, almost comically when he heard Stormie respond. "Fuck you, Bo."

In all the eighteen years that he'd known her, he never once heard her swear, not including words like _'damn' _or _'hell'_, because those didn't really count. When he left the bathroom and saw that Stormie had changed into her pajamas, climbed into bed and turned off the lights, he knew he had said something he shouldn't have.

He grabbed the keycard, his wallet and his cell phone before he left the room, shutting the door not too quietly behind him. Stormie bit her lip as she glared at her pillow, laying there quietly in the dark until she fell asleep at around ten o'clock before Bo returned. When she woke up the next morning, there was a crystal vase with different colored roses, tied together with a ribbon and sitting in less than an inch of water. Even though roses were not her favorite flowers, the sentiment was sweet, and when she saw Bo peeking around the corner from the wall that separated the bathroom from the living room area, she couldn't help but forgive him.

At around seven thirty that night, Stormie and Bo waked hand in hand into the back entrance of the First Niagara Center, Stormie's hand couldn't seem to stop going up to touch the red rose that she wore in her hair. After taking only ten steps inside the arena, Stormie was stopped by Renee Young, asking for an interview for the WWE App.

Stormie pushed past her and continued walking until she reached the hair and makeup department. She sat down on a crate that held an assortment of costumes and ring gear as she watched AJ get her hair and makeup done for her match against Brie Bella, which was right after Curtis Axel versus R-Truth.

"That was very rude." Bo frowned when he caught up to Stormie. "She only wanted an interview, Stormie."

"And I didn't want to give one, Bo." Stormie replied. "I know she was going to ask questions about Cody, Dustin and my dad that I don't want to answer right now."

"Have you talked to them at all?" AJ asked, interrupting their conversation as the hair stylist ran a chunk of her hair through the ceramic plates of the hair straightener.

Stormie looked down at the buckles on her cowboy boots and sighed, but she never got the chance to answer because Bo answered for her. "No. Why would she?"

"They're my family, Bo..." Stormie frowned.

* * *

Roman instinctively glanced up from double knotting the laces on his boots and sighed heavily when he realized that Seth was in the exact same position he was when they first entered their private locker room; staring down at his phone. Roman went to college, he wasn't an idiot. He knew that Seth wasn't browsing through his Twitter timeline or looking or music on iTunes like he claimed.

"Staring at your phone like a teenage girl isn't going to magically make her call you." Dean commented when he opened the locker room door and saw Seth sitting on the bench with his phone in his hands. He tossed them each two bottles of water; one to drink, and one to dump over their heads.

Either Seth was ignoring Dean's remark, or he wasn't even listening. Roman knew it was the latter. He unzipped Seth's gym bag and rummaged around inside it to quickly find Seth's cargo pants, Under Armour T-shirt and tactical vest. He tossed it at him and watched as it hit Seth in the chest.

He didn't even blink.

Roman sighed again. "Seth." He called his name several times before Seth even glanced up at him. "You need to give her up and move on." Roman advised. "She's dating Bo. Not you. Besides, when we win tonight, she won't be here anymore."

"You know that he isn't good for her." Seth remarked. "I'm almost positive that she knows it too, she's only staying with him because she feels guilty about cheating on him."

Chelsey flinched, and Seth knew it was because she was remembering that, if Triple H and Stephanie were telling the truth, she made out with her fraternal twin sister.

"Maybe The Authority would still let her stay if we won the match tonight..." Seth continued, sounding desperate.

"Doubt it." Dean answered, using his teeth to cut the tape he was wrapping around his wrists and hands. "She's a Rhodes. If they lose tonight, all the Rhodes' are fired and banned from WWE."

"I know where your head is, Seth." Roman suddenly spoke up. "Don't go interfering with Stormie's love life, and don't you dare throw this match just to keep the Rhodes family here. Stormie is young and talented; she's a fast learner, I'm sure there are tons of other wrestling promotions that would love to sign her."

"I won't throw the match." Seth replied quietly, picking up and putting on his crumpled ring gear. hE knew he would feel terrible if he threw the match like he wanted to, but he also knew that he would feel even worse if he and Roman won because that would mean that Stormie would be out of a job and he would never get to see her again. Roman, Dean and Seth all left the locker room and began making their way to the concession stand level for their entrance, Chelsey chose to stay behind.

Seth walked around the corner with his fellow Shield members just in time to see Bo pulled Stormie off the crate by her wrist and ignor the pained cry that escaped her lips when she suddenly put all her weight on her sprained ankle.

"They're like strangers to you now, wake up, Stormie! Don't even think about them anymore. They lied to you!" Seth could see the tears welling up in her eyes, but Bo didn't stop his tirade. "They lied to you about who you are, you can't trust them anymore. But you can trust me." He added. "You don't need them anymore, I'm your family now."

"Come on, Seth." Roman said quietly, giving him a sharp poke in the back to get him moving.

He was in a lose-lose situation; caught between a rock and a hard place. He knew that Roman and Stormie were friends now, and Roman was in this match too, but he wasn't even considering the possibility of throwing the match just to keep the Rhodes family employed. He knew the answer to the question of _why _he was thinking of it.

If Stormie was no longer employed by the WWE, she would be spending more time in Florida with Bo. He knew that Bo wasn't good for her, and thanks to the little fit he threw in the hair and makeup department about Stormie being upset about the people she called her family for her entire life, Roman and Dean knew it too.

If Stormie was with Seth, he would never have treated her so badly, he felt his blood boil when he closed his eyes and all he saw was the way Bo manhandled Stormie, hurting her already sprained ankle in the process as he pulled her off the crate she was sitting on. When they made it to the concession stand entrance and the radio chatter at the beginning of their entrance song began, Seth wiped his face clear of all emotions, but the thoughts were still on his mind as he, Roman and Dean began making their way through the crowd.

* * *

Bray looked up when the locker room door opened and Bo walked in, dragging a limping Stormie behind him. "I'll go get you something to drink."

"What happened?" Bray asked as soon as Bo left the locker room. "What did he say?" Stormie shook her head as she gingerly pulled off her cowboy boot and whimpered when she saw the swelling in her ankle had flared up again. "Nothing." She answered, sniffling. Bray stared at her for a few seconds wondering just what made Stormie start crying this time, but he knew better than to ask. He watched her as she hopped on one foot to get the remote on the top of the tv.

She sat down in Bray's rocking chair and flipped through the channels until she found the Battleground pay per view. The Shield was already standing in the ring when Cody, Dustin, Dusty walked past the curtains and stood at the top of the ramp. Dustin stuck out his closed fist, Cody and Dusty quickly copied him, it looked as though they were mocking The Shield.

Stormie held onto Bray's hand tightly as they watched her brothers and father make there way down the ramp and into the ring. Cody, Dustin and Dusty stared at The Shield from the other side of the ring while the referee kept them separated.

The match stared in Cody's favor when Seth immediately threw a punch that Cody ducked and tossed him into the turnbuckle. Stormie watched intensely as Cody Irish whipped Seth into the ropes and landed a back body drop, but not before Roman slapped Seth's back, effectively tagging himself in.

Even after a tag, the match was not in The Shield's favor. Cody dropkicked Roman right into the turnbuckle on their side of the ring and Dustin grabbed a handful of his long black hair, and began wailing punches to his head, only stopping when the referee threatened to disqualify them. Cody tagged in Dustin and they went for a double team move, Irish whipping Roman into the ropes but Seth grabbed his leg and pulled him under the bottom rope to save him and to re-group.

Stormie felt her heart drop into her stomach when Seth pointed to the other side of the ring where Dusty stood. All three members of The Shield began walking over to our side of the ring, ignoring the referee who was counting in the ring. Dusty, Cody and Dustin stood in a line in front of the Shield.

Eventually Dustin got back in the ring and called for Roman to do the same. The momentum continued to shift all through-out the match, while Dean was trash-talking Dusty, he was met with a punch to the face with a large metal belt buckle and a Bionic Elbow to the head. Dean fell flat on his ass and continued to scoot backwards up the ramp as Daddy followed him slowly, swinging his belt like a whip.

Bo returned to the locker room with a bottle of diet Dr. Pepper and a Coke. He handed Stormie the diet Dr. Pepper and he sat down on the bench next to Bray and turned his attention to the tv.

Everyone was so preoccupied with what was going on outside the ring that nobody noticed Seth roll up Cody until the referee began counting. He only reached a count of two before Cody kicked out. Seth looked beyond frustrated, and when he turned around he was planted with the Cross Rhodes by Cody. Time seemed to stand still as the referee counted to three and Dusty's music blasted through out the First Niagara Center.

"I'm going to go see them." Stormie said suddenly, and she was gone before Bo or Bray had a chance to do or say anything. Bo wouldn't be happy, especially after everything he said in the hair and makeup department, but at the moment Stormie couldn't care less. Maybe she didn't forgive them at that very moment, but they were still the only family she knew, they were the people who raised her and she would always love them. She didn't understand how Bo could just expect her to up and forget about them just like that.

She limped around a corner as fast as she could and regretted it when she ran right into another body. Stormie looked up at the person she ran into, her heart jumping into her throat when she realized it was Chelsey.

She had been subtly avoiding her since Triple H and Stephanie dropped the adoption bomb on her last week. Now that they were face to face, Stormie took in her appearance more carefully to take in the similarities that she hadn't noticed before. They both had brown hair and brown eyes, but they weren't exactly the same shade, their noses were similar but they had differently shaped lips; She could see the similarities now that Triple H told her they were sister, but she still didn't want to believe it was true. She barely suppressed a shiver of disgust when she only just realized that she made out with what could have been her fraternal twin sister.

For a moment, they stood there and stared at each other, before Chelsey's brown eyes narrowed and she shouldered past her as she took off down the hallway. "Are you satisfied?" Bo asked, coming up behind her. "If your sister by blood doesn't want to see you, why on earth would your adopted family want to see you?" Stormie could feel her eyes watering. "You think they care about you? I told you they don't matter anymore. Forget about them. I'm the only one who cares about you."

Instead of going back to the Wyatt Family's locker room, Stormie followed Bo to the parking lot, trying to ignore all the fans that stood at the back entrance because they didn't have tickets and what they were screaming at her. She put her luggage in the extended cab seat of Bo's pick up truck and they sat in silence as he drove back to the hotel.

He rolled his eyes when, once again, she took the staircase up five floors, but otherwise said nothing. Bo watched as she sat down on the edge of the freshly made bed, he kissed her temple before he went into the bathroom to shower.

She surprised herself when she didn't burst into tears as soon as Bo left her alone. Everything he was saying was right. Chelsey was ignoring her, and every member of her family had stopped blowing up her phone with text messages and voice mails. Maybe they didn't care anymore.

At the moment, it seemed like Bo was correct when he told her that he was the only person who cared for her, but the guilt of what occurred between Seth and herself was still eating away at her. If Bo was the only person who cared about her, he deserved to know the truth. When he came back into the bedroom with his long hair soaking the back of his T-shirt, he found Stormie in the exact same position he left her in.

He sighed and kneeled down in front of her, his hand resting on her bare knee. "You know I only said those things because I care about you, right babe?"

Stormie bit her lip and nodded. "I know. Because I care about you too, I have something to tell you." He nodded understandingly and waited for her to continue. Her palms grew sweaty and she attempted to wipe them off on the silky red blanket, but it wasn't very absorbent. Her heart pounded in her throat so hard she was surprised she managed to say what she wanted to say to him.

"I cheated on you. Twice."


	10. Chapter 10

**I feel so bad about not updating this story for 3 weeks. I recently started working 5 days a week instead of the usual 3, and on my 2 days off, I volunteer at a bookstore, so the only days I truly have for writing are Tuesday and Thursday. To be more precise with this story, I decided to put it on a sort of schedule. Updates can be any day of the week between 1:00 and 5:00 PM Eastern time, but most likely on a Tuesday or Thursday, so always be sure to check or follow this story.**

* * *

Bray frowned as he glanced at Stormie through the rear-view mirror of the Wyatt Family's rented green Ford Explorer. She had used a lot of makeup to cover the angry red mark that blemished her otherwise beautiful face, but Bray saw it clearly when she showed up at his hotel room at two o'clock in the morning with her suitcases and her dark brown eyes pink and glazed over, filled with unshed tears.

She didn't tell him what happened when he asked, but he found out shortly after she fell asleep in his bed when Bo began blowing up his phone with furious text messages, calling Stormie every terrible word he could think of. He told him how Stormie cheated on him twice, although he never mentioned with who. Bray was sure that he did this because even he didn't know, but there was no doubt in Bray's mind that he knew one of the people Stormie cheated on his baby brother with was Seth Rollins.

His main reason for assuming this was because when Stormie confessed and left the hotel room she shared with Bo after he slapped her hard across the face, she didn't go running to The Shield like Bray had seen her doing for the past few weeks.

He knew that her relationship with the members of The Shield, more specifically Chelsey had been rocky since Triple H announced to the WWE Universe that the Rhodes family adopted her, and her best friend Chelsey turned out to be her fraternal twin sister. He wondered if Triple H was right, but he never asked Stormie, he was positive that she didn't even know.

"Do you want to stop at McDonald's for lunch? I'll buy you chicken nuggets and a cheeseburger." Bray asked, breaking the silence that settled awkwardly in the SUV. Stormie stopped looking at the passing traffic and briefly locked eyes with him through the rear-view mirror, Bray frowned when she shook her head and continued to look out the window, when she turned her head the swelling near her cheek bone was noticeable, even though the makeup covered the redness.

Bray knew it wasn't right for Stormie to cheat on his brother twice, but Bo also had no right to put his hands on her, their father raised him better than that. He was taken out of his thoughts when his phone vibrated in the cup holder. He read the text message he received when he pulled into a parking space behind the CONSOL Energy Center and frowned as he glanced out the window at Stormie, who was already out of the car and pulling her suitcases towards the back entrance, keeping her head down and ignoring all the fans that were calling out to her.

She thought that nobody backstage paid her a second glance as she walked through the hallways with the hood of her cotton candy pink American Eagle sweatshirt pulled over her head, covering her loose, messy braids, but she was evidently wrong when a blonde haired personal assistant wearing a pencil skirt and carrying an iced coffee from Starbucks stopped her by the divas locker room and told her that The Authority wanted to see her in their office. Stormie followed the PA down a series of hallways until they reached a door with a piece of paper taped to it and the words **AUTHORITY** written in bold capital letters with a Sharpie.

"They're expecting you." The PA said.

Stormie stared at the door like it led to the gates of hell, she only made a move to knock on the door when the PA looked at her pointedly. It was quiet for a few seconds before Stephanie called out for her to enter, which she did so, alone.

The room was decorated with a brown leather couch and arm chair, flat screen television and Stormie could have sworn she heard the gentle humming of a mini fridge, although she couldn't see it.

"Stormie, it's so good to see you!" Stephanie beamed as soon as Stormie came into her line of vision. She was snuggled next to Triple H on the sofa and motioned for Stormie to take a seat in the arm chair directly across from there. She did so reluctantly.

"I know that this past week has been difficult for you, so we want to do whatever we can to make you feel more comfortable. I understand if you don't believe us when we say that Chelsey Salvatore is your fraternal twin sister, and to be quite honest, I don't blame you. Don't ask questions, but we sent some strands of hair from Chelsey and yourself to the WWE doctors and had them start a DNA screening when we learned your lineage, just to be absolutely certain."

"We got the test results back yesterday, and they will be revealed tonight on Raw when you go down to the ring to appear on Miz TV." Stephanie concluded before calling out, "Amber!" The blonde hair personal assistant entered the room at once and stood on the tips of her high heeled shoes, her hands clasped behind her.

"Yes, Mrs. McMahon?"

"Please escort Miss Rhodes down to the seamstress and then to the hair and makeup department." Stormie looked down at her skinny jeans and scuffed up old low top Converse with mismatched shoes laces.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing right now?" She asked, feeling slightly offended.

The personal assistant Amber gave her a look that blatantly said, _"You're kidding, right?" _before actually responding with words. "Follow me please, Miss Rhodes. Or, do you go by Miss Salvatore now?" Smirking at the expression that appeared on Stormie's face, the PA left the makeshift office, motioning for Stormie to follow her, which she did so reluctantly after catching the nod Stephanie and Triple H made.

Apparently the seamstress Miss Sandra had already been informed that Stormie was appearing on Miz TV because as soon as she saw her, she abandoned her task of handing out pink breast cancer awareness T-shirts to the other divas to grab a garment bag and a pair of sparkly silver silver open toe pumps by the backs.

Inside the garment bag was a pink dress made of flowy material that shimmered under the lights and fell a little above her knees, making her look like a fairy princess ballerina, all she needed to complete the look was a tiara. She changed in the divas locker room and walked around the backstage area barefoot, much to the chagrin of the personal assistant Amber, who glanced at her over her shoulder as they walked to the hair and makeup department.

Stormie's hair was taken out of the messy braids and curled, so the tips of her hair just barely brushed her shoulder blades. Her makeup was done to perfection, the freckles that were scattered across her face were completely covered up, her eyes appearing larger than they actually were, she tried to suppress a flinch of pain when the makeup artist began to apply a pink blush to her cheekbones and she touched the swollen flesh.

"You look so pretty!" The makeup artist gushed, clapping her hands in excitement as she stood back to admire her work. The hair stylist nodded in agreement as she moved on to curling Eva Marie's hair when she came by with JoJo trailing loyally behind her.

"I look nothing like myself." Stormie frowned, staring at her reflection in the mirror. "I look like I'm twelve years old..."

"That was the plan, dear." The makeup artist said impatiently, grabbing a tube of light pink lipstick that she uncapped and spear over Stormie's lips. She hardly ever wore makeup unless she had to cover a pimple or curl her eyelashes. She felt insulted that the makeup artist and the hair stylist both seemed to agree that she needed to wear makeup, like she was ugly or something.

She glanced down at the French pedicure on her toenails and remember how this morning she plastered her face with almost all the makeup she owned, trying to hide the red mark Bo's angry hands left on her face. She could still hear the words he screamed at her late last night as though he was standing right next to her.

_Cheater. Bitch. Slut. Whore._

She didn't know what hurt worse, the fact that he could call her all those names so easily, even though she knew how angry he was, or the fact that he put his hands on her. She grew up with Bo, she knew his father taught him to never lay a hand on a woman, he wouldn't even play wrestle with her when they were children because he was afraid that he would hurt her. Apparently he had no concerns about that anymore, she mused, rubbing a hand over her tender cheek

Stormie stayed in the hair and makeup department for a few more minutes before they deemed her camera ready and allowed her to leave. Amber the PA reminded her that she would be needed in the gorilla position in about half an hour before she set off, answering a text message on her Galaxy cell phone.

Stormie knew that she probably should have went to see the trainer about her ankle, but instead, she padded barefoot through the backstage area, carrying her high heels by the backs until she found a crate that was marked "Wires" and sat down on it.

"Stormie." Someone called from behind her. She turned her head and saw The Miz walking up to her, he stopped when he was about a foot away and put his hand on her shoulder, "Our segment is on next." He said, nodding towards The Real Americans, Khali, Santino and Hornswoggle as they walked through the curtain. "Are you ready?"

She wasn't ready, but she couldn't tell him that. Instead, she faked a smile and nodded her head. Miz smiled back and walked through the curtain when his music began to play. She let her face fall as soon as he was out of sight and bent down to put on her high heels and watched the monitor backstage as Miz stepped through the ropes and grabbed a microphone.

"Welcome to the most must-see WWE talk show in history; welcome to Miz TV!" He waited for the crowd to quiet down their cheers before he continued to speak. "Please welcome my guest tonight, the lovely Stormie Rhodes!"

She took a deep breath as she heard,

_You make the rain fall  
Cause you're so beautiful that it's painful  
Yeah, you told me that you were an angel  
But I already know what you came for  
You make the rain fall_

She had been in the WWE for almost a month, and she only just got her own theme song and customized entrance with purple and yellow strobe lights and a Titantron video with clips of her wrestling and smiling at the camera, as well as her name written in pretty yellow letters with a purple background on the minitron. Stormie walked slowly down to the ring, blowing kisses, waving and slapping a few hands before she walked up the steel steps and Miz sat on the middle rope, holding it open for her.

Stormie knew that guests on the show didn't usually sit down in the directors chair that were set up, but her ankle throbbed with the combination of high heels and walking down the ramp, she picked up the microphone and sat down on one of the chairs, crossing her legs and smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles in her dress. Miz raised an eyebrow, but too the seat next to her and raised the microphone to his lips.

"Stormie, I'm going to start off by asking one of the questions that everyone wants to hear answered." He paused dramatically and Stormie took that time to wonder to herself, why he was dressed to compete? There were so many reasons that she wanted this little interview to be over, but the main one was because she was about to find out if she and Chelsey were indeed fraternal twins. That was the exact question he asked.

Even the very thought terrified her, never mind if it was true or not. She didn't get a chance to answer because Miz continued. "I know you don't know yourself, but I have been informed that The Authority issued a DNA test and the results are in!" As soon as he said this, a man in a business suit began walking down to the ring. When he climbed up onto the apron, Miz took the envelope from him and waved it around showing it to the WWE Universe.

"Do you want to know if Stormie and Chelsey are twin sisters?!" He asked, and the WWE Universe responded with loud cheers. Stormie's heart pounded painfully in her chest as Miz took his time opening the envelope, reading and rereading it carefully before he looked up at Stormie's anxious face and almost whispered into his microphone, "It's positive. She's your twin sister."

Stormie had no time to react because the Titantron let out a noise of static and a sheep's mask was shown very briefly before the lights were out. A hand who she immediately recognized as Miz's instantly grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet, making sure should stood behind him. This was why he was dressed to compete, because Bray and the Wyatt Family were scheduled to interrupt.

When the lights came back on, Bray stood in the middle of the ring with Harper and Rowan flanking him. Miz jumped at them, but the combined efforts of Harper and Rowan brought him down quickly. Stormie had so many thoughts on her mind that she couldn't focus on just one, but she didn't have to focus on anything other than Bray as he stepped forward and bent her backwards over his knee, pressing his slightly chapped lips against her forehead before hitting her with Sister Abigail.

Her body laid motionless in the middle of the ring, her eyes closed but she wasn't unconscious. She could hear the crowd booing and feel the mat moving beneath her as someone walked over to her. She was grabbed by her sprained ankle, too stunned to feel the twinge of pain that shot through it, and dragged across the ring, under the bottom rope before being slung across a broad back and carried to the backstage area.

She laid completely still across the person's back, who she recognized as Harper from the stained wife beater he wore. The booing of the crowd was so loud you had to strain to hear the Wyatt Family's entrance theme when it played as the dragged Stormie from the ring, up the ramp and behind the curtain.

She bounced gently over Harper's shoulder as he walked around backstage for what seemed like ten minutes until she vaguely heard someone knocking on a door before the door opened and Stormie was gently placed down on a soft suede sofa.

"I think we should take her to the trainer's room." Bray said sounding a little nervous

"You can do that in a minute." Triple H responded, before he kneeled down on the floor in front of Stormie grinning up at her. "How you feelin', kiddo?" She gave him a blank look, not quite understanding if he meant how was she feeling after learning that Chelsey was in fact her fraternal twin sister, or how was she feeling after being struck with Sister Abigail.

"Doesn't matter." He continued, not bothering to wait and see if Stormie would respond. "You sold it so well, the crowd was going crazy, I knew this was a good decision."

"You decided it would be good for me to be attacked?" Stormie asked, both looking and sounding incredulous. Triple H blinked, as though he were surprised and then his smile quickly reappeared. "That wasn't an _attack_," He stressed, "that was an initiation. We believe it's best for business if you joined the Wyatt Family. We couldn't tell you before, because your reaction had to look genuine."

Stormie frowned at his words and realized that because the Wyatt Family already attacked her, she would have no choice but to join them. When she looked up and saw that both Triple H and Stephanie wore identical smirks, she knew they thought of that too.

"You'll be making your first appearance as a member of the Wyatt Family at the Smackdown taping tomorrow." Stephanie added without missing a beat, giving a deviously friendly little wave as she hooked her arm around Triple H's and they left the room, shutting the locker room door behind them.

"You got a text message." Rowan said timidly, holding out Stormie's iPhone in it's sparkly case. She gingerly took it from him and unlocked the screen. She bit her lip when she saw it was from Bo and opened the message after hesitating for a few seconds.

**'I gave it some thought and decided that I would forgive you only this once for being a lying, cheating little slut. You better hope I never find out who you cheated on me with, or if I hear that you cheated on me again, a little mark on your face will be the least of your worries.'**


	11. Chapter 11

Stormie eyed her reflection in the mirror, trying to focus on the task the hair stylist was having straightening her long and curly dark hair, but every five seconds, she caught herself eying her cheek, which was no longer red, but slightly purple. She refused to hide it, but didn't openly admit what happened to her. As far as everyone knew, the bruise on her face was a result of the Sister Abigail she took last night and she had not corrected anyone so far.

Bray had been apologizing non stop since last night, he reminded Stormie of the way Chelsey acted during their debut match when she speared her out of the ring, but thoughts about Chelsey were painful to think about, so she tried not too. Just last night the entire truth had been revealed; Stormie and Chelsey were, in fact, fraternal twins. But this news didn't bring the two closer together; If anything, it pushed them farther apart.

She missed the times when she was in developmental with Chelsey, before any of this ever happened. They were inseparable, which she now understood even more thanks to the bomb The Authority dropped on them. They trained together, they traveled together, they even lived together for a brief period of time when Stormie first joined the NXT roster and had not yet found an apartment near by the Performance Center.

Stormie had hoped that when she saw Chelsey earlier in the backstage area of the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio that she would talk to her, but when Chelsey saw her walking down a hallway with the three other members of the Wyatt Family behind her, she quickly turned the other way and walked off, and Stormie knew that the chances of reconciling her relationship with Chelsey were slim to none.

It was obvious that Bray had seen the look of hurt on Stormie's face as she watched Chelsey walk away, which is why he had Harper and Rowan take all their luggage to their private locker room while he escorted Stormie to the hair and makeup department, as well as the wardrobe department to get her new outfits for joining the Wyatt Family.

Stormie gently plucked the white eyelet lace material of her dress away from her thighs as the hair stylist finished her hair and stepped back to allow the makeup artist to cover the bruise on her face, but other than that, they kept her face looking as fresh and natural as possible. Stormie honestly didn't see the point, as her face was going to be covered by a lamb mask similar to the one that Rowan wore, but somehow more feminine.

"You look very pretty." Bray complimented as he watched from the crate he was sitting on, but Stormie didn't appear to hear him as she fiddled with the anklet made of fresh daisies that the seamstress Miss Sandra wove together and tied around her uninjured ankle.

Seeing her hands near her ankle reminded Bray that he needed to take her to the trainer's room before Harper and Rowan's match, so the doctor could evaluate her. When Stormie was finished in the hair and makeup department, Bray held onto her hand as he led her to the trainer's room. She was diagnosed with a sprain, which Bray had predicted weeks ago, and advised her to not wrestle, but the doctor allowed her to make her debut as a member of the Wyatt Family tonight.

The only time in the past few days Bray had seen a smile appear on Stormie's face was when the doctor told her not wear any shoes that would any more strain on her ankle, so she and Bray walked down the hallway towards the Wyatt Family's locker room with Stormie's bare feet making slapping sounds against the concrete floors. Not only was it incredibly comfortable, but apparently it added to the whole image The Authority had picture for Stormie when she made her debut as a member of their Family tonight.

When they crossed the threshold into the locker room, both Harper and Rowan looked up, appearing tense, but visibly relaxed at their presence. Bray was happy to see that his two other Family members were taking to Stormie quite well, considering Harper looked about ready to strangle her when they first met and she sat down in Bray's rocking chair. Now when she sat down in the rocking chair to take some of the unnecessary pressure off of her ankle, Harper merely grabbed an ice pack and wrapped it around her ankle as gently as he could.

Even though he knew it wasn't his right to tell both Rowan and Harper what Bo did, he did it anyway and he was fairly surprised at how angry they got. Apparently even backwoods cult members drew the line somewhere, and the line they refused to cross over was hitting women. Bray only did it because he had too, it was nothing personal. But Stormie told Bray that morning that things between her and Bo were fine, and left it at that. Bray wasn't convinced but he promised himself he wouldn't meddle into their love life unless he absolutely had too.

The next time Bo put his hands on Stormie, he would find himself on the receiving end of _Sister Abigail, _and it wouldn't be just for training this time. Stormie watched from the rocking chair as all three members of the Wyatt Family began doing last minute preparations for their match. Admittedly, she wasn't too excited to be going out to the ring tonight, not because she didn't want to be a member of their family, even though it wouldn't have been her choice in stables if she had to join one.

No, she wasn't looking forward to going out to the ring because, according to the match card, a piece of paper taped to the wall of just about every locker room and public area backstage, Harper and Rowan were in a tag team match against Cody and Dustin, the two people who, until quite recently, Stormie believed to be her older brothers.

It had been about 3 weeks since The Authority aired the Rhodes' dirty laundry to the entire WWE Universe, to the entire world, and Stormie avoided Cody and Dustin like the plague, ignoring their phone calls and text messages, doing her best to stay out of their sight whenever they were all in the same arena. Bo told her before that they wouldn't want to see her, she tried to think differently, but after their voice mails and text messages stopped, and seeing how Chelsey did everything she could to avoid her, she honestly believed Bo when he told her that Dusty, Cody and Dustin felt the same way.

There was a soft knock on the door before it opened and a young man wearing dark jeans, a black T-shirt and a headset poke his head through the door way nervously. "Wyatt's are needed in Gorilla in ten minutes." He stammered out nervously, looking down at the worn out Converse on his feet to avoid making eye-contact with any of them before he left, closing the door behind him.

Bray grabbed a bottle of water, twisted off the cap and took a generous drink before he swallowed the mouthful and the proceeded to dump the rest of the bottle's contents over his head to soak his long brown hair. Harper took the ice pack off of Stormie's ankle and put it back in the mini fridge as she quickly ran a brush through her hair.

She watched Rowan put on his sheep's mask first before she copied him, taking a quick glance at her reflection in the mirror before Bray helped her to her feet and all four members of the Wyatt Family began making their way to Gorilla position, Rowan dragging the rocking chair, Harper carrying the lantern and Stormie holding onto Bray's hand tightly. Stormie stopped in her tracks just before the Wyatt's made it to Gorilla position, and Bray was about to ask why, when he looked passed Stormie and he saw the answer standing there, wearing tight leather pants and a Shield hoodie that was several sizes too big for her.

"Do you have a minute?" Chelsey asked, biting her bottom lip as she shuffled her boot clad feet awkwardly. Bray, Harper and Rowan all stared at the both of them curiously. Stormie paused, almost unbelieving that Chelsey was actually talking to her, before she came to her senses and shook her head, taking the lamb mask off her face. "Um, yeah. I guess..."

Chelsey looked pointedly at Bray and the rest of the Family. He gently touched Stormie's lower back and murmured that they would meet her in Gorilla before they walked off. Chelsey watched them disappear down the hallway before she turned her attention back to Stormie.

"You bleached your hair." Stormie commented before Chelsey could say anything. She blinked in surprise and took a lock of her freshly bleached blonde hair in her hand, examining the ends. "Yeah. I, uh, just wanted to look different."

Stormie had a feeling that Chelsey had been struggling with her own identity since The Authority announced that they were fraternal twins, and it didn't surprise her that Chelsey would try to make herself look different from Stormie, even though they weren't identical. It didn't stop it from hurting, though.

"It looks good..." Stormie said, fiddling with the elastic string at the back of her lamb mask.

"Thanks." Chelsey replied awkwardly. A silence settled between them, only broken up occasionally by the roaring of the WWE Universe. "I just want to say that I'm sorry for ignoring you for the past few weeks. I know this is hard for the both of us, we should have stuck together when that bomb was dropped, and I'm sorry we didn't. My mom texted me earlier, she hasn't been watching wrestling in a few months, and she only started up again last Monday."

Stormie couldn't help but notice how Chelsey used the word "_my"_ when she referred to her mother and she didn't know if it bothered her or not, to think that someone other than the woman who cared for her for eighteen years was her mother.

"I didn't even get a chance to text her before she called me. She saw you on Miz TV and recognized you instantly even though the last time she saw you, you were just an infant. She confirmed what Triple H and Stephanie said. She also sent me this."

Chelsey held out her cell phone, Stormie hesitated for a minute before she took it from her. A picture text and a conversation lit up the screen. She recognized herself as a baby immediately, she still had one half of the yellow baby blanket covered in chicks that she and another baby who must have been Chelsey were curled up together in. Stormie tore her eyes away from the picture and scrolled down to the text message.

**'This is not something that can be explained through a text message. I don't know when you'll be able to come home to visit, but until then, I want you to get to know your sister, and tell her not to shut her adopted family out of her life. I may be her biological mother, but it takes a lot more than just giving birth to her to make me her mom.'**

Wordlessly, Stormie held out the cell phone and Chelsey took it, stuffing it in the pocket of her Shield hoodie. "They still live in Nova Scotia, so the earliest we'll be able to go is Christmas vacation because the company doesn't do live shows or even house shows there." Chelsey rolled her eyes slightly before turning serious. "She's right, though. My mom. Even though we've been friends since July, it feels like I don't know you anymore. We need to get to know each other again like sisters, and you need to talk to your family. I know you haven't been."

Stormie bit her lip and nodded her head before walking off down the hallway to Gorilla, thanking Triple H and Stephanie for deciding to make her wear this lamb's mask that hide her face and her emotions from view. Bray looked up upon hearing Stormie's bare feet smacking against the concrete, concern written on his face. "Are you okay?" He asked softly.

Stormie didn't speak with words, she spoke with actions as she nodded her head, pulled the lamb mask down to cover her face, and slipped her small hand into Bray's larger one as she heard him speaking on the Titantron, obviously a promo they filmed while she was gone.

"They say I don't belong here, that my intentions are cruel and unjust. They claim I dine with sinners and run with thieves." She heard him chuckle lightly. "But she is no sinner, she is no thief. She is a siren, beckoning you with her angelic voice. But the water is just fine. Come on in." A slight pause followed this before he announced their arrival and the familiar static sound cut through the arena, their entrance music began to play and Bray gave her hand a little squeeze as he led her past the curtains, Harper and Rowan following closely behind, the latter dragging the rocking chair.

The only light that illuminated the entrance ramp was coming from the lantern swinging from Bray's hand, not only was Stormie glad she was wearing the mask, she was glad that she wasn't wearing any high heeled shoes. She had some problems wearing high heeled shoes when it was bright, never mind in the dark. While they slowly walked down the ramp, Stormie looked around as much as she could, barely seeing Cody and Dustin standing in the ring waiting for them.

When they made it to the end of the ramp, Bray sat down in the rocking chair and gently pulled Stormie down so she was sitting sideways on his lap. He held out the lantern to her, and she hesitated a second before she blew it out and the lights came back on, Harper and Rowan were already standing in the ring, Stormie didn't even realize they'd moved from behind Bray and herself. She watched the match quietly, unable to keep her eyes off of Cody and Dustin, the text message she read only ten minutes ago still fresh in her mind.

Chelsey and her mother were right. She couldn't keep shutting her family out of her life, even if they kept this secret from her for eighteen years. When Cody took out Rowan with a flying cross body and landed a few feet away from her, she could see him mouthing the word _"please"_, and she knew automatically what he meant.

She watched as he turned around and was instantly met with a big boot from Harper, who then tossed Cody back into the ring before he followed him, Dustin came to help Cody, but he was met with a clothesline that sent him back out of the ring, and a few seconds later, Cody picked up the win for their team. Harper and Rowan looked absolutely furious at suffering their first loss since being called up to the main roster.

Without even thinking, Stormie got off of Bray's lap and climbed into the ring, ignoring the twinge in her ankle at all the sudden movements. She placed herself in between her new teammates and older brothers. "Don't attack them, please!" She pleaded, ether of her hands on Rowan and Harper's chests, trying to keep them at a safe distance. They didn't seem to listen to her until Bray got into the ring as well and stood between them and Cody and Dustin, watching as they celebrated on their way back up the ramp.

When Cody and Dustin left the ring side area and Smackdown went off the air, Bray, Harper, Rowan and Stormie followed them backstage, but they were nowhere to be seen. The seeds of doubt that Bo planted in her brain last week began to grow; They were just here, did they leave because they didn't want to see her?

Bray took her hand in his and led her back to the Wyatt Family's private locker room with Harper and Rowan behind them. Stormie immediately sat down on the bench when they got there, someone would collect the rocking chair from ringside and put it in the prop truck so it would be ready for next Monday. She took off the lamb mask and put it down on the bench next to her.

Harper and Rowan went to shower, and while they were gone, Stormie changed out of her dress and back into her street clothes, which consisted of a pair of burnt orange skinny jeans and a white and black thin stripped sweater and warm suede boots, not carrying that Bray was still in the room, she had known him for eighteen years, she trusted him to keep his back turned like she would do for him. They both finished changing their clothes about the same time and Harper and Rowan finished their showers shortly after.

The only people still left in the arena were the crew, all the talent had gone back to the hotel to sleep, as most of them had flights to catch in the morning. Bray, Stormie, Harper and Rowan all piled into their rental car, Bray in the driver's seat, Stormie riding shotgun and Harper and Rowan in the back. They both fell asleep on the way to the hotel, no doubt exhausted from their match.

Stormie and Bray rode in mostly silence, Bray concentrating on the road, Stormie browsing through her Twitter timeline, jumping in surprise when the loud sound of tweeting birds alerted her of a text message. She looked over her seat, making sure that Rowan and Harper were still asleep before she exited the Twitter app and looked at her text messages.

**'We've been giving you space for the past few weeks, but we really do need to talk to you.'**

The message was from Cody. Stormie stared down at it for about a minute before her fingers began moving across the digital keyboard.

**'Next Monday, after Raw.'** She typed back before hitting send and shoving her phone into her pocket, settling down into her seat, resting her head against the cool passengers side window.


End file.
